Pokemon Crimson Destinies
by golden.arch
Summary: A fresh new adventure set 25 years after HeartGold and SoulSilver, these are the adventures of Jack and his friends as he battles his way through to the Pokemon League! Right Now: The battles for the second gym badge come to a close! (Rated T just to be safe) (A/N: if you have any ideas for minor characters, feel free to let me know)
1. Application To Vermilion Pokemon Academy

You are a potential student at the Vermillion Pokemon Academy, to become a student you are required to fill out this application form.

Are you a boy or a girl?:

What is your favorite Pokemon type?:

Least favorite?

Are you going for the Pokemon league or are you aiming to be a top Pokemon Coordinator, or maybe something else?:

Are you interested in joining Team Dark Star?:

What do you look like?:

What region are you from?:

Do you like battling?

Swim wear?

What town/city (small villages near town, cities, or landmarks are permitted) are you from:

What would you want your starter Pokemon to be (there are more choices than the typical starters):

Choices:

Bulbasaur - taken

Squirtle - taken

Charmander

Mareep - taken

Elekid - taken

Eevee - taken

Bellsprout - taken

Magby - taken

Abra - taken

Machop - taken

Lotad - taken

Seedot - taken

Vulpix - taken

Poliwag - taken

Starly - taken

Shinx - taken

Spheal - taken

* * *

Please send the filled in application form through PM


	2. Accepted Characters

**These are the OC's that have been accepted sl far**

* * *

Julia

Renée

Alan

Dwaine Arias

Styles Kaizu

Gareth Valtimore

Celeste Aither

Sinead Haze

Aiden

Shade

Pandora

Yuki

Ray

Simon

Weiss

Ryan

and Diego

* * *

This will be the main cast, but just because I have the main characters doesnt mean you cant send any OC's they can be recurring characters

**_Also I forgot a question on the_ application**

Do you nickname your Pokemon?


	3. Graduation Day

**The wait is finally over, the story begins now, read, review, and enjoy ^_^**

* * *

It was morning in Vermilion City, the sun was beginning to rise, the light was shining and illuminated a sign by a building, it read 'Vermilion Pokemon Trainer School.' We see the inside of the building in the boys dorm, room 413, inside were 2 boys sleeping in separate beds, one was light skinned and wore a white tank top and black boxers, he had black hair, the other was tan and wore green pajamas, his hair was dark brown. Their alarm block started to ring but only the light skinned boy woke up.

"Diego, wake up, we have to get up and get to class, this is the day we graduate and get our first Pokemon!" He called, trying to wake up his friend Diego.

"Ughh... Jack you'll never let me sleep in won't you?" Diego asked groggily.

"Nope, come on dude, get dressed, we're meeting Professor Oak today, do you want to look sleepy in front of him, if you do he might not let you have any Pokemon!" Jack replied

"Alright, alright! Jack, I've known you for 15 years and you've never been this excited before!" Diego said

"Well, yeah, this is an important day Diego, as of today. We're graduates, now come one we need to meet up with Julia and Renée!" Jack stated. The two boys got dressed, Diego wore baggy black shorts and a basic white t-shirt, he had dark green running shoes. Jack wore a black t-shirt with a red and green 'X' shape and dark blue jeans and purple and black running shoes.

Soon the two boys were out the door and on their way to class. They went inside their class and greeted their classmates.

"Heyyy guys!" A girls voice called. It was Julia, she had strawberry blond hair, blue eyes and a beauty mark on her left cheek, she wore a light pink tank top, a white cardigan, a grey skirt with knee high white socks and black high top shoes. She hugged Jack and Diego hello.

"Good morning Julia!" Jack said, blushing a little bit.

"Is your sister here?" Diego asked

"Yeah I'm over here!" A voice answered.

It was Julia's sister Renée, she had copper blond hair and emerald green eyes she had freckles on her nose, she wore a light blue tank top with a black cardigan, a grey skirt, knee height black socks and white high tops

"Cool, so we're all here then!" Jack remarked. They sat down at a table with their classmates.

First there was Dwaine, he had brown skin and wavy brown hair, he wore a grey shirt and blue shorts, he also had headphones around his neck

Then there's Styles Kaizu he was athletic and had pointy ears and sharp canine teeth, Jack honestly thought he looked like a Mightyena, but he didn't want to tell him, in fear of making him upset. He wore a grey hoodie and black skinny jeans, he had a red bandanna with black angel wings in the back and another bandanna around his neck, he had black combat boots and grey socks, white headphones and a black belt, his coolest accessory was his Emboar tooth necklace.

Sitting next to Styles was Gareth, he was from the Kalos region, he wore a navy sleeveless jacket with a black shirt, he had white gloves and blue jeans, he had a black beanie as well, he always told us that he dreamed of being a coordinator!

Sitting near the back of the room was Celeste, one of the smartest girls in class, she had long midnight blue hair that went down to her waist, it was held back on her right side with a pokeball clip, she was pale and wore jean shorts with chains an off-shoulder black top with a black and white pokeball on it. She was from Kalos as well.

Sitting near her was another girl named Pandora, she had elbow length black hair which she alternated from being down or braided (it was down today)she had soft grey eyes she wore a black trench coat over a read skirt, black leggings, and red boots, she was always quiet, the few times she did speak she always said she wasnt good enough to be here, everyone always tried to make her happy. She was from Kalos as well.

Sitting closer to the front was Shade he had short spiky grey hair, light brown eyes and skin, he was lean and wore sunglasses, he had a long sleeved shirt over a dark blue body warmer with a hood, he had baggy blue pants, he had simple black dress shoes. He was from Couriway Town

Aiden was from Goldenrod City in Johto, he was tall and athletic with short, messy brown hair, he had a light tan, dark blue jeans with a plain black shirt that had a white Mew design on it.

Sitting in the front was Sinead Haze, although she was the youngest in our class she was a genius, she always dreamed of being a top coordinator, she had honey brown hair that reached just below her shoulders, green eyes, she was slim but was the average height of a girl her age, she wore blue jean shorts and a purple tank top with. White pokeball print on it and purple sneakers. She was from Lumiose City.

Yuki sat beside her, those two had a bit of a rivalry, both vowing they would be the best coordinator in Kanto, Yuki had reddish/pink hair that was short and in 2 ponytails held up by ribbons, light skin, she wore a purple jacket that was too big for her with a light green shirt underneath, and a white skirt.

Ray, was a huge fan of Water-type Pokemon and his role model was Brock who was known as the world's best Pokemon breeder. Ray had brown hair, a black hoodie, blue jeans and sneakers, he was pretty tall as well, he enjoyed the beach since he was born in Slateport City in the tropical Hoenn region.

Simon was from Accumula town in the Unova region, he was known as the snazziest student in the class, he was also very tall at 6 ft. 7 in. He was rather round and had long grey hair, a green lab coat with a t-shirt and shorts underneath

Weiss was from Viridian City, everybody called her Snow because she loved Ive-type pokemon, she had white hair in a ponytail, a short sleeve dress with black borders, the upper part was black and the lower part had black squiggles.

and last was Ryan, he looked up to Blaine, the former Gym Leader of Cinnabar Island, although it was nearly destroyed by a volcanic eruption, it has rebuilt since then, though it is very upsetting that Blaine passed away 6 years ago. Ryan loved Fire-type pokemon, he was tall and a bit wide, he wore black pants and a blue star tank top.

* * *

The class went silent when the teacher, Dr. Goff, came in,

"Class it gives me great pleasure to see you all today. As you know this is your graduation day, and the day you will receive your first pokemkn!" The class cheered at his words.

"Now class settle down!" He ordered although he understood his student's joy.

"Now were are to be travelling to Prof. Oak's lab in Pallet town soon, and I'm afraid you will have to be moving out of your dorms as well, now pack up and meet me in front of the school in 1 hour." He stated, the class had went back to their dorms.

* * *

An hour had passed and everyone was in front of the school.

"Now everyone listen carefully, we are to be going through Diglett's cave to Route 2, then we will go through Viridian City to Route 1 and we will be in Pallet Town, any questions?" Dr. Goff began

"How long will the trip there take?" Sinead asked

"The walk there should be about an hour and a half!" He answered

And so they began.

In Diglett's cave Dr. Goff sprayed a super repel to keep the Diglett and Dugtrio away, although they wild pokemon didn't bother the group, the class did get an opportunity to see them in their natural habitat.

* * *

The trip through Route 2 and Viridian City was short as Route 2 was not very long and Weiss helped everyone navigate through Viridian City, as it was her home town.

Once they went through Route 1 they were in Pallet Town and soon in the Lab of Prof. Oak

"Ah, Dr. Goff, glad to see you made it safely, and in record time as well!" Prof. Oak had greeted

Prof. Oak has aged well over the years, his hair was more white and he was visibly older, but he was still very fit, still wearing his signature lab coat, red collared shirt, and khaki pants.

"These must be the graduates!" He continued

"Please step this way children! Your starting pokemon are over this way!" He directed

He directed everyone outside to his ranch, the graduates were astounded at the beauty and grace the pokemon there had, there was a huge variety of them, from Pidgeots to Furrets to Camerupt, there were pokemon from all 6 regions in the ranch, each with habitats that fit the needs of the pokemon, they each had tags and collars to identify who they belonged to.

Prof. Oak directed the group to a table he had set up, there were 17 pokeballs on the table, each for every graduate.

"These pokeballs are kept here for trainers starting out on their journeys, feel free to pick whichever pokemon you want!" Prof. Oak said with pride in his voice.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed the first true chapter, what Pokemon are in the Pokeballs, who is going to lick what, find out, Next Chapter**

**Also to the people who sent OC's, did I describe them correctly? If you wanted to send a character in, its not too late, you can send in ideas for rivals, recurring characters, villainous team admins, etc.**

**Let me know in the reviews what you think! ^_^**


	4. The Pokemon Are Revealed

**And Chapter 4 begins, the OC's will get their starter pokemon and go their separate ways for a while, dont worry, they will be back often, but for now, sit back, relax, grab a snack, and enjoy the chapter. Also send in through reviews or PM's your ideas for the full team of 6 for the main OC's! ^_^**

* * *

The graduates stood at the table in Oak's ranch, they eagerly awaited their pokemon.

"Feel free to pick whichever pokeball you want!" Oak exclaimed

"So... who's going to pick first" Dwayne asked

There was an awkward silence before Jack spoke up

"I'll pick first!" He stated, Jack took the pokeball to the farthest left from the others

"Ooh! I wanna pick next!" Julia exclaimed in excitement, taking the second to last pokeball from the right

"I'd like to pick a pokemon next, if that's ok with everyone that is!" Pandora said, everyone was ok with her picking next, she grabbed one to the right of the table.

"I call next!" Shade proclaimed, taking the last one on the right

"I want... this one!" Aiden said taking the one that was dead center

"I'll take this one." Sinead proclaimed, taking the one next to Aiden's on the left

Renée took the 5th pokeball on the left "I think this one will be a good partner!"

"Dwayne picked a random pokeball without looking "...This one!"

Styles took the 2nd pokeball from the middle going right. "I hope its something good!"

Gareth and Celeste took the 2 pokeballs that were right next to each other that were close to the middle. They were both nervous and excited about what starter they had, because of this, they were speechless.

Yuki took the 3rd to last pokeball on the right side, squealing with glee and holding it close to her.

Ray took the 4th pokeball on the left side. He looked at it with a joyful look on his face

Simon and Ryan took the last 2 pokeballs on the right side, both looking at their pokeballs expectantly

Snow (Weiss) took the 2nd pokeball om the left leaving the only one left for Diego

"Don't be shy, send out your pokemon and have a look!" Oak suggested, Diego excitedly sent out his pokemon, it was a Charmander

"Awesome!" He exclaimed

Julia sent out her's next, it was a Spheal

"Eeeeeeeek! Its so cute!" She announced hugging it

The others did not hesitate to send out their pokemon as well

Jack had received Bulbasaur

Snow got Squirtle

Ryan got Magby

Simon got a Bellsprout

"Sweet! I think I'll call you... Classy!" Simon exclaimed with pride

Ray got a Poliwag, he named it Roy

Yuki got a Vulpix

"Look how adorable it is! Its ruby red fur is just exquisite! The only appropriate name would you would have to be Ember!" Yuki stated

Aiden got an Elekid

"Totally wicked!" Aiden complemented

Celeste received an Abra

She smiled at her new partner

Gareth partner was a Machop

"Cool!" He said excitedly

Styles got an Eevee, which quickly went to a small patch of flowers and pulled a flower out, bringing it to Styles, who out it on it's ear

"Eee!" It said happily, its higher pitched voice assured that this Eevee was a female

Dwayne had a Starly which flew up to his shoulder, he turned to fave his pokemon and smiled at it

Renée received a Mareep, she hugged it

"Its so soft!" The Mareep then shocked her to which she just laughed at

Pandora received a Seedot which looked upset, she picked it up and looked at it in the eyes, managing to smile a little bit

Shade's pokemon was a proud Shinx that looked up at him, its tail wagging, it looked playful

Finally, Sinead had a Budew it was rather timid and backed away from her, Sinead picked the Budew up and hugged it

"I'm very glad to see that you seem happy with your pokemon!" Prof. Oak continued, he put 2 boxes kn the table and he opened them up.

"You'll need these for your journeys!"

He handed everyone a pokedex and 5 pokeballs each, he also gave everyone 5 potions and 3 basic repels

"I believe you should know what these items do and how to use them! Now please listen, your pokemon are special compared to their regular species members, these pokemon have been specially raised and trained, so please be responsible with them!" Oak stated

"Excuse me Dr., but I'd like to get a picture of your students, im sure their families would love to see this!" Prof. Oak's assistant, Tracey asked

"But of course! Prof. Oak, would you mind being in the photo as well?" Dr. Goff responded

"Not at all, I would love too!" Oak said

Everyone had gathered around for a group photo with the graduates and their pokemon

* * *

After the photo, everyone had stood in front of Professor Oak's lab, Dr. Goff was about to speak...

"Students... no, Trainers, im proud to say that you are now graduates of the Vermilion Pokemon Academy! May your journey be safe and fun, and please dont be afraid to stop by at the Academy and check in with us!" Dr. Goff stated, prompting the new Trainers to cheer proudly!

* * *

Eventually everyone had dispersed to start their journey, Julia, Renée, Jack, and Diego stayed behind, they would be travelling in a group

"So where are we meeting up again?" Diego asked

"In Viridian City, by the Pokemon Center, we need to head back to our village by Mt. Silver and show our parents our new Pokemon!" Renée explained

"So what time are we meeting up there?" Jack asked the two

"At around 11, don't be late!" She reminded them

Julia hugged the two boys goodbye, making Jack blush again, Diego noticed this and nudged Jack's arm as the twins were leaving

The boys headed to their houses as they lived in Pallet Town

* * *

That night, Jack couldn't sleep partially due to the excitement of having his new partner, Bulbasaur, but something just didn't feel right, he felt that this journey would split his friends apart. ..

* * *

**And that's the end of it, the new Trainers now have their starter Pokemon, are you happy with the pokemon they all received, let me know how you feel in the reviews! Got any ideas for the story? Send them in through PM's, hope you enjoyed!**


	5. Setting Goals for Yourself

**As of this chapter, the story finally takes off, what sort of amazing adventures will our heroes have? Will they see their old classmates again? And what was up with Jack's strange feeling the evening before? Will his best friends really drift apart? Lets find out!**

* * *

The following morning, Jack awoke and went through his normal morning routine at home. He picked up Bulbasaur's pokeball and met Diego out by the gate to Route 1.

"You ready to go?" Diego asked, excitement written all over his face.

"Yeah, Im ready." Jack replied, deep in thought and conflicted about something.

"Well snap out of it, I don't want to be late, you know how Renée gets when she's angry!" Diego states, causing the two boys to shudder in fear

* * *

The boys were walking through Route 1, it was neither long nor short but it was easy to go through they eventually had to go through tall grass when suddenly...

A wild Ratatta appeared!

"Cool! Lets see what Charnander can do!" Diego exclaimed, ready to battle

"Charmander, use Scratch!" He ordered, his pokemon scratching the Ratatta, damaging it, it retaliated using Tackle, causing some decent damage!

"One more time!" Diego stated, once again damaging the pokemon, through it seemed as though Ratatta was hurt in the slightest, at injured Charmander with Bite, causing serious damage!

Charmander immediately started glowing with a red aura, its tail flame beginning to burst!

"That's Charmander's ability, Blaze!" Jack stated

Charmander immediately shot a fireball out of his mouth it hit Ratatta and the flame had burst into a larger ball of fire before turning into smoke

"WOAH!" Diego shouted, shocked at his Charmander's power, the two worried if the Ratatta was ok, it was knocked out but otherwise just fine, it quickly woke up and ran off. The boys then continued off towards Viridian City

* * *

Meanwhile at a village near Mt. Silver several minutes earlier...

"Are you girls all packed up and ready to go?" Renée and Julia's mom questioned

"Yeah mom! Julia and I are all ready!" Renée answered

"I'm so proud of you two, stay safe ok!" She continued

"Growl!"

"Looks like Growlithe wanted to say goodbye also!" Julia stated, petting the canine pokemon

"Julia let's hurry! I don't want to be late! If the boys beat us, they'll never let me hear the end of it!" Renée exclaimed, and so they too were off.

* * *

At Viridian City the boys made it to the Pokemon Center about 20 minutes early, they were waiting for the girls when they saw a familiar face

"Snow!? What are you doing here?" Diego asked forgetting the fact that Snow lived in Viridian City, Jack facepalmed at Diego's mistake

"Diego, I live here!" Snow reminded him, causing Diego himself to facepalm, after he realized his mistake

"So Snow, what are you planning to do on your journey?" Jack questioned

"Isn't it obvious!? I'm gonna collect all 8 badges in Kanto and beat the Pokemon League!" Snow stated with pride

"Well you're going to have to beat me first!" Jack proclaimed

"Don't forget, I'm in it to win it too!" Diego announced

The three glared at each other, confident that they will be the winner. Snow eventually stopped glaring at the two.

"Well, I wish I could stay, but I'm off to get my first badge in Pewter City! If you want to get to the League, you'll need the 8 badges first!" Snow said, leaving the two boys, a few minutes later, the twins had arrived

"WE'RE HERE! WE'RE NOT LATE!" Renée shouted, startling the 2, Jack checked his watch, and sure enough, the time was 10:59, the girls just barely made it on time.

"Haha, glad you two could make it!" Diego chuckled

"So should we get a move on then?" Jack asked

"Yeah!" Julia, Renée, and Diego cheered in unison

* * *

Route 2 was split in half from because of the Viridian Forest, aside from that, it was very similar to Route 1

The group went along the way peacefully, until they came across a small grey pokemon, it looked like a baby hyena or a puppy, Jack scanned it with his pokedex...

"Poochyena: The Bite Pokemon; It has a very tenacious nature. Its acute sense of smell lets it chase a chosen prey without ever loosing track." The pokedex stated

"Cool! Alright, lets see what you can do Bulbasaur!" Jack proclaimed while sending out his Bulbasaur

"Bulba!"

"Ok, lets see a Tackle!" Jack ordered, Bulbasaur tackled the Poochyena it attacked back with its own Tackle

Bulbasaur then sprouted a seed out of the bulb on its back and launched it at the Poochyena, the seeds began draining its energy!

"I hope this works!" Jack pleaded, throwing the pokeball at the wild pokemon

It shook a few times before a light flashed on the pokeball and there was an audible 'click' signifying that the pokemon had been caught

"Alright!" Jack cheered, proud that he captured his first Pokemon

"Yay Jack!" Julia cheered, happy for her friend

From the nearby bushes a pair of eyes had been watching the group, whoever it was watching them seemed to have their own pokemon

"Looks like we might have found a worthy challenge, wouldn't you say Spinarak?" The figure asked

"Spina-rak!"

From above a Zeppelin seemed to also be spying on the main group they focused a camera on Jack

"There! That boy keep an eye on him, he appears to have potential!" A woman's voice called out

"Yes Empress!" A voice answered

"Shall we proceed on with the plan at Mt. Moon?" A different voice asked

"But of course!" The woman replied, still watching the camera that was focused on Jack

* * *

**And that's that! Sorry if this chapter seemed short and uneventful, but I promise you, things will get better, but you're probably asking these questions: Who was that person in the bushes? What's with the zeppelin and who is in it? What do they want with the heroes, Jack specifically? What are they planning at Mt. Moon?**

**These questions will be answered in due time, although one will be answered in the next chapter, let me know your opinion on this one though, how did you feel about Jack catching Poochyena? Review what you think! ^_^**


	6. A New Rival Appears: Enter Alan!

**The adventure continues, a new capture is made and the first major battle takes place**

* * *

Jack had just caught his new Poochyena and was admiring its stats and move set, it had particularly high stats despite how young it looked, it knew the moves Tackle, Howl, and Sand Attack

"I have to admit Jack, I'm impressed!" Renée complimented, Jack smiled at his first capture

"Yeah it was cool! But the next pokemon I see will be mine!" Diego proclaimed, he saw what looked like a bug pokemon, it was green and had a small horn "There!" He signaled pointing in the direction of the bug pokemon

"EEEEEEEEK! IS THAT A BUG!? EWWWWWWW!" Renée screamed

The pokemon quickly ran away into Viridian Forest where it ran up to a Trainer, he had brown eyes and raven hair, his skin was pale, he wears a plain midnight blue shirt and black jacket, he wore light blue jeans and sneakers.

"Diego! What were you thinking running off like that!?" Jack questioned his friend as he and the girls caught up with Diego, the group noticed the boy with the pokemon, Diego scanned the pokemon in his pokedex:

"Spinarak: the String Spit pokemon; it lies in the same pose for days on its web waiting for unsuspecting prey to wander close"

"I see you've taken notice to my Spinarak, though I can understand why, it's a strong fighter!" The boy turns to look at Jack "I saw you catch that Poochyena earlier, I want you to show me how strong you are, my name is Alan and I challenge you!"

"Well Alan, I accept your challenge!" Jack replied, eager for his first battle

"To make things fair I will only use Spinarak, you're free to use any pokemon you have." Alan stated

"Alright then! Let's go!" Jack challenged, and so the battle was on, Alan used his Spinarak

"Alright Poochyena! Let's see what you can do!" Jack sent out his Poochyena

"Make your move!" Alan said, letting Jack make the first move

"Not smart! Use Sand Attack!" Poochyena kicked sand into Spinarak's face blinding it

"Use Night Shade!" Alan ordered, a dark cloud enveloped Spinarak and Poochyena, when the cloud disappeared, Poochyena appeared to take bad damage

"Use Tackle!" Jack commanded, Poochyena tackled Spinarak which caused it to be blown back several feet before crashing into a tree, Spinarak struggled to stand up afterwards.

"Im impressed, nobody has caused that much damage to Spinarak before, but its not over yet! Spinarak, use Leech Life!" Alan said, impressed with Jack's tenacity and his Poochyena's power, his Spinarak leaped up and landed on Poochyena and bit it, draining its energy, causing Poocheyna to be knocked out

"What kind of move was that!?" Diego asked, confused Renée was too scared of the Spinarak to say anything and Julia was focused on watching the battle

"Leech life is a bug type move that drains the opponents energy, Dark type pokemon are weak to bug type moves, making this an easy victory! Send out your next pokemon!" Alan boasted

"Alright, you asked for it! Bulbasaur, finish it!" Jack sent out his Bulbasaur

Alan smirked and chuckled a little bit, thinking he had this victory in the bag

"Spinarak, Night Shade!" Alan ordered using the same technique as before

Bulbasaur jumped back before the dark cloud reached him

"Nice one Bulbasaur!" Jack complemented his pokemon

"Now Leech Seed!" He continued, Bulbasaur shot a seed at the Spinarak

"Spinarak! Constrict!" Alan said, his Spinarak leaped onto Bulbasaur and proceeded to squeeze the bulb on its back, causing immense pain to Bulbasaur

"Saur!" Bulbasaur shouted in pain

Jack stood there shocked, unsure of what to do. Suddenly his Bulbasaur expelled a cloud of blueish-green spores from its bulb at Spinarak who was still squeezing Bulbasaur, Spinarak fell off of Bulbasaur, it was fast asleep, Jack took this opportunity to finish Spinarak off

"Bulbasaur, use Tackle!" Jack exclaimed, finishing the Spinarak off, securing his first victory, Alan was shocked, but smirked

"I'm impressed, you're the first person to beat my Spinarak!" Alan admitted "Here, the least I can do is heal your pokemon for you" Healing Jack's pokemon, Renée was STILL scared of Alan's pokemon.

"Congrats Jack!" Julia cheered, happy for her friend's victory

"We'll meet again Jack, and next time... things will be different!" Alan stated, the group watched him go

* * *

During the groups trek through Viridian Forest, Diego was still a little upset over not catching a pokemon

"Im still going to catch a pokemon Jack, just wait and see!" Diego said confidently, he saw a small yellow body with a little black tail

"There! This time its mine!" Diego said chasing the figure who ran away startled

"Watch it be another trainer's pokemon again!" Renée said, she calmed down after the encounter with Alan

The group followed the figure until it tripped, it was holding an Oran Berry, it was a small, yellow, mouse-like pokemon Renée scanned it with her pokedex

"Pichu: the Tiny Mouse pokemon: It is not yet skilled at storing electricity, it may send out a jolt if amused or startled"

The Pichu was about to cry because it dropped its berry, its cheeks were beginning to spark, Diego, worried that he and his friends would get shocked, took the berry and gave it back to Pichu, who smiled back at Diego. He accidentally dropped one of his pokeballs in the process, Pichu noticed it and went to give it back to him, activating it and getting caught in the process.

"Well I guess thats one way of getting a pokemon!" Julia chuckled

The group continued onward, making their way to Pewter City, close to the exit, they came across a mysterious figure. The group walked up to it and found out it was a young woman, she was dressed as a nun, she had soft platinum blond/ grey hair, she greeted the group.

"Hello there children, what brings you out here? She asked

"We were on our way to Pewter City, Miss!" Julia answered with a friendly smile, the woman smiled back at her

"It must be enjoyable traveling with your friends, oh, its rather rude of me not to introduce myself, I am Meridia!" She said bowing

"My name is Julia!" Julia said, returning the greeting

"I'm Renée, Julia is my sister!" Renée continued

"I'm Jack!"

"The name's Diego!"

"Its so very nice to meet you all! Unfortunately, I can't stay long, I must take my leave. Best of luck to all of you!" Meridia said, leaving in the direction the kids just came from.

The 4 then continued onward to Pewter City

* * *

**And that ends the chapter! What did you think? Did you enjoy the first rival battle of the story? Who is Meridia specifically, is she with those mysterious people in the zeppelin, is she dangerous? Let me know in the reviews if you have any ideas, or how you felt about the chapter**


	7. Twins' Best Friend!

**And so the adventure continues, I'm not 100% sure if a main character catching or receiving a pokemon is considered filler, in the actual series, filler episodes tend to have the main characters doing nothing of consequence or nothing actually important to the story. But I'm going off track, here's Chapter 7 and the return of one of the graduates!**

* * *

The group had exited Viridian Forest safely and were on the other side of Route 2.

"Finally out of there! If I see another bug, I'm going to flip!" Renée exclaimed

"We're almost to Pewter City guys!" Julia cheered

"Isn't there a gym in Pewter City?" Diego asked

"Yup, the Gym Leader's name is Forest if I remember correctly." Jack answered, not completely sure of who was the leader, as ever since Brock left, nobody really worked for the gym until recently

* * *

Once they entered Pewter City, the group immediately went to the Pokemon Center, where they saw a familiar face.

"Yuki!?" Julia asked

"Julia? Is that you?! And Jack, Diego, and Renée are with you too! Its great to see you all again!" Yuki stated, hugging the group "It's good to see you all made it through Viridian Forest just fine!"

"Well we're not going to quit just because of a few bugs!" Julia responded

"Pleaseee, do not mention bugs again!" Renée whined, prompting the group to laugh, Nurse Joy approached them

"Excuse me, are you two Julia and Renée by any chance?" She asked

"Yes we are, do you need us for something Nurse Joy?" Julia answered

"Your mother is on the video phone, she wanted to speak with you" Nurse Joy stated, she led them to the video phone, their mom was om the other end.

"Hey mom, you wanted to talk to us?" Renée began

"Hello girls! I'm glad you made it through Viridian Forest, although I called because something serious happened. I'm afraid that Growlithe ran away!" She stated, the twins gasped at this realization

"R-ran away, b-but why!?" Julia asked, on the verge of tears

"I don't know, I tried to stop him but he just kept running east, who knows where he could be now..." She continued, her words trailing off

* * *

Meanwhile, Growlithe was just fine, he was running through Route 2, it sniffed the air, searching for something, he appeared to find the scent he was looking for and he dashed towards Viridian Forest

Inside, he just kept running, not sure of where he would end up until he suddenly heard a voice...

"Woah, its a Growlithe! I HAVE to catch it!" It said, Growlithe turned its head in the direction of the voice, it was a young boy, he appeared to be 12 or 13, he send out a Rattata to battle Growlithe, Growlithe stood his ground, not going to turn down a fight

"Rattata, use Quick Attack!" He ordered Rattata dashed towards Growlithe hitting him hard

Growlithe retaliated by Biting Rattata and slamming it down back to the ground

"Rattata, fight back with Bite!" The Trainer said, Rattata jumped onto Growlithe and bit its head, however Growlithe shook Rattata off and burned it with an Ember making it faint!

"Wow! This Growlithe is strong! But I'm not quitting, Go Pidgey!" He exclaimed, sending out his 2nd pokemon, several other trainers heard the commotion and gathered around the Trainer and Growlithe, watching in awe

"Pidgey, use Gust!" The Pidgey blew up a harsh wind that sent Growlithe a few feet back, but Growlithe barely took any damage from it, he fought back with a wicked Bite that knocked Pidgey out of the sky and crashing back onto the ground, quickly knocking it out

"Oh man, that was my last pokemon!" The youngster said, upset by his failure

"Hey! If he couldn't catch that Growlithe, then maybe I can!" "That Growlithe is SO strong, it would be awesome on my team!" "EEEEEEK! It's so cute! I HAVE to catch it!" The other trainers called, Growlithe quickly dashed away, he was looking for a trainer, but they were not the ones he was looking for.

* * *

Back at the Pokemon Center in Pewter City, Julia and Renée informed the others of their dilemma

"I don't understand, why would your Growlithe run away?" Jack asked

"Im so sorry this happened!" Yuki added, upset for her friends

"Don't worry, we'll help look for him!" Diego stated, confident that there was still a chance to get Growlithe back

"I appreciate the help but I'm not sure we can find him." Renée admitted with distress in her voice, Julia was outside crying, unsure of what to do

"Nonsense! Where there's a will, there's a way!" Diego replied, his confidence spread to Jack and Yuki

"Diego's right, we can't just sit here and cry, we'll find him, even if we have to go back through Viridian Forest!" Jack added

Yuki pondered for a moment "I know just who can help!" She announced sending out her Vulpix "Growlithe and Vulpix are natural allies, maybe with Vulpix's help we can find him!" This idea brought a smile to Renée's face

"I don't know how to thank you guys enough!" She said, she then went to tell Julia if the idea, Julia then immediately ran back inside, a glow of hope on her face, her eyes were red from crying

"Are you really going to help us?!" She questioned, the others nodded in approval, a big smile came upon Julia's face

* * *

Growlithe had just barely escaped a trainer who came close to catching him, he continued running until he was trapped by a rock formation, a few trainers found Growlithe, there were 2 girls and 1 boy, one of the girls pulled out a pokeball when suddenly...

"Stop!" A voice called out, the 3 trainers turned around and saw Meridia standing there!

"That Growlithe does not belong to you!" She stated

"We found this Growlithe first, we earned it!" One of the girls said

"If you will not listen to reason, then listen to my Clefairy!" Meridia stated, sending out a Clefariy

"Clefairy!" It called out

"So you want a battle eh?" The boy said, stepping up to accept her challenge "Well you're going to regret it, Go, Beedrill!"

"Clefairy, use Sing!" Meridia ordered, Clefairy proceeded to sing a sort of lullaby that put Beedrill to sleep, leaving it unable to attack!

"Come on Beedrill! Wake up!" The boy called

"Now Clefairy, finish it with Meteor Mash!"

Clefairy's hand began to glow a light grey/white/gold color, it charged towards Beedrill and gave it a hard punch, sending it rocketing to the rock wall, the Beedrill was knocked out afterwards

"Oh crud!" The boy said, recalling his pokemon and running off scared, the two girls he was with followed suit

Growlithe was also scared, he had no chance to escape, Meridia approached him... and started to pet him, giving him a very sweet smile

"Come with me, I will bring you to the Trainer you're searching for!" She told Growlithe, who reluctantly followed her

* * *

The main group had gone back to Route 2, believing that Growlithe could have made it to Viridian City by now, they were just about to re-enter Viridian Forest, but Renée was too afraid to go back in, she was shivering at the thought of it.

"Come on sis! Don't you want Growlithe to be ok?!" Julia said, trying to coax her sister into facing her fears, Renée let out a sigh, knowing that she HAD to go back into Viridian Forest

"Oh fine... but only for Growlithe!" Renée replied, however they didn't need to go back into Viridian Forest, as the next thing they saw was Meridia walking towards them, she had Growlithe behind her, Growlithe saw Julia and Renée and ran towards them, licking their faces and barking in joy.

"I assume this Growlithe belongs to you two?" Meridia asked, giving the group her sweet smile

"I-it is, how can we ever thank you Meridia!?" Julia asked, she was crying tears of joy and hugging Growlithe

"There's no need to thank me, I only did what I believed to be right, I apologize for cutting this reunion short but I must take my leave, safe journeys to all of you!" She said before turning around and going back into Viridian Forest

* * *

The 5 went back to the Pokemon Center to inform the twins' mother that Growlithe had been found

"I'm so glad Growlithe is safe, it looks like he wanted to join you! Why not take him along with you, I'll send over his pokeball!" Julia and Renée's mother said

"Thanks mom! We'll take good care of him, I promise!" Renée replied

"I'm sure you will! Take care you two, visit whenever you can!' Her mom said before turning the phone off, Growlithe's pokeball came a little after.

"So Diego and Jack, are you going to challenge the Gym Leader?" Yuki asked, the two nodded in approval, eager for a battle with the Gym Leader

"Well I think I'll stay with you guys for a while and watch your battle!" She said

"Great, then you can watch me win!" Diego announced

* * *

**And that finishes Chapter 7, so Renée gets to take care of Growlithe! Meridia was so nice in helping the twins out! How strong is Growlithe anyway, but how strong is Meridia? Next time:The first Gym Battle! Stay tuned, review and hope you enjoyed! ^_^**


	8. Pewter City Gym!

**Sorry for the late update, I haven't really been motivated to update, but I will press on for you guys! Enjoy the chapter and the first Gym Battle against the NEW leader of the Pewter City Gym! ^_^**

* * *

It was morning and the 5 teens had woken up and gotten dressed and eaten breakfast, the main group were eager for their first ever gym battle.

"Alright! Today's the day I get my first badge!" Diego announced as he dashed off towards the gym, Jack and the girls ran after him

"Glad to see Diego hasn't changed one bit!" Yuki remarked

"That's Diego for ya', he never stops moving!" Jack replied "he's been that way since we were kids!'

Once the 5 teens were in front of the gym the 4 that would battle the leader questioned who would battle first

"So how are we gonna decide this?" Renée asked

"Rock-paper-scissors?" Julia suggested, the others looked at her confused

"Honestly... that's not a bad idea!" Jack laughed

The 4 quickly drew out their hands, Renée had paper, Diego had rock, and Jack and Julia both had scissors.

"So its between you two then." Diego stated, he was a little disappointed that he wouldn't battle first

"Why don't you go first Julia, its manners to let a lady go first!" Jack remarked, he blushed as he said this prompting Renée and Diego to cast a sly grin upon Jack

"Aww thanks!" Julia replied, hugging Jack and causing him to blush more, Diego and Renée teased him a bit about it as they went inside

* * *

The inside of the gym looked like the inside of a warehouse, a battlefield was in the center, there were bleachers on the walls for a better view of the battle, the battlefield was loaded with rocks giving it a mountainous appearance, at the one end of the battlefield stood the gym leader, he was a tall young man with light tan skin, his eyes gave him the appearance as if he was squinting, he wore a green shirt with a brown vest and light brown dress shoes, when he noticed the group he approached them.

"I heard I was going to have challengers today! My name is Forrest and I am the gym leader of the Pewter City gym!" He announced

"My name is Julia! This is my sister Renée and my friends Jack, Diego, and Yuki!" Julia introduced

"I'm not here for the badge, I came to support my friends!" Yuki stated

"That's perfectly fine!" Forrest replied "So who am I going to battle first?"

"I am! This is gonna be soooooo much fun!" Julia said eagerly

* * *

**Julia's Battle**

"To make this battle fair I'll use as many pokemon as you want!" Forrest stated "So how many will it be?"

"Lets make it 1-on-1!" Julia replied

"Alright then, Graveler, come on out!" Forrest answered sending out his Graveler, his strongest pokemon

"Graveler? Lets check it out." Jack said scanning it with his pokedex

"Graveler: the Rock pokemon; Rolls down slopes to move. It rolls over any obstacle without slowing down or changing direction."

"Ok Spheal, lets see what you can do!" Julia said, sending out her Spheal

"I'll let you make the first move!" Forrest stated

"Alright Spheal, use Water Gun!" Julia commanded, Spheal shot out a forceful jet of water at Graveler, it took the hit full force without taking any visible damage

"Woah, that's amazing, Graveler didn't take any damage!" Diego remarked

"It has to be VERY well trained!" Yuki said, clearly impressed

"Graveler, use Rollout!" Forest commanded

Graveler rolled towards Spheal very quickly and slammed into it knocking Spheal back a few feet

"Oh no! Spheal, fight back with Powder Snow!" Julia said, Spheal blew a cold wind at Graveler, it managed to slow Graveler down a little but Spheal was slammed again, this process repeated again and again, Graveler gained speed and power with each hit.

"Spheal, please fight back! You can do it, I believe in you!" Cried Julia, after she said that, Spheal formed a ball of ice around the size of a baseball and shot it at Graveler, knocking it back a little bit, but Graveler seemed to ignore it and continued rolling forward.

"What kind of attack was that?" Diego asked

"I think that was Ice Ball" Yuki answered "Its like Rollout but its an ice-type move and just like Rollout, it gets stronger and stronger with each hit!"

Spheal continually shot Ice Balls at Graveler, each ball was bigger than the last and hit Graveler harder each time, knocking it back more and more. Eventually Spheal formed an Ice Ball larger than Graveler itself, Spheal shot it at Graveler, once it hit it sent Graveler flying the wall of the gym, knocking it out and securing a win for Julia!

"Yay! We did it Spheal! We did it! We did it!" Cheered Julia, hugging her pokemon, her sister and friends congratulated her on her victory, Forrest had walked up to Julia

"Congratulations, with your victory I am pleased to give you the Boulder Badge!" He said, giving Julia her badge "Now I think it would be best to wait a while until my Graveler is ready to battle again."

The others nodded in agreement

* * *

During the wait Jack asked Forrest about the gym

"So Forrest, I heard that you only became the gym leader recently, who was the leader before you?" Jack asked

"Well, my dad was the gym leader for a while but he passed the position down to me, but before that the gym leader was my older brother, Brock, he left the gym on a journey with a trainer years ago, eventually he became the world's best pokemon breeder and doctor. But a few years ago, he came back to Kanto and decided to aim higher than a gym leader, where he is now though... well I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise!" Forrest answered

"That's amazing, but are you sure you can't tell us where he is now?" Diego asked

"Sorry, family secret!" Replied Forrest "So who is going to battle me next?"

"I will!" Diego announced eagerly

"Well my Graveler seems ready to battle too, so lets not waste any more time!" Forrest said, both of them had an eager look on their faces

* * *

**Diego's Battle**

"Lets make this battle 2-on-2!" Diego proclaimed

"Fair enough. Go Omanyte!" Forrest responded, sending out his Omanyte

"Omanyte?" Diego questioned scanning the fossil pokemon with the pokedex

"Omanyte: the Spiral Pokemon; Revived from an ancient fossil, this pokemon uses air stored in its shell to rise and sink in the water"

"A Rock and Water type? Alright then, go Pichu!" Diego challenged, sending out his Pichu

"You can make the first move!" Forrest said

"Bad move!" Diego warned "Pichu use Thunder shock!"

Pichu zapped Omanyte with a small electric bolt, it actually managed to do some noticeable damage

"Impressive, but it'll take more than that to beat us! Omanyte, use Water Gun!" Forrest commanded, Omanyte shot a forceful jet of water at Pichu

"Pichu, quick! Dodge it!" Pleaded Diego, Pichu quickly jumped out of the way to avoid the water. Pichu then took a deep breath and gave a loud screech with visible sound waves, the sound waves were pink and moved quickly towards Omanyte, once they made contact with Omanyte it quickly knocked Omanyte out!

"Woah! What was that?!" Diego asked astounded at what just happened

"That was Disarming Voice, its a fairy-type move! I heard normal Pichu don't have that move normally, Diego's must be unique!" Yuki stated

"Not bad Diego, but its not over yet! Go Graveler!" Forrest declared, sending out his Graveler again

"Pichu, return!" Diego recalled his Pichu, he felt that Pichu deserved a break "Go Charmander!"

"A fire type against a rock type? Bold move Diego!" Forrest said, fire types were at a disadvantage against rock types

"Im not giving up! Charmander, use Ember!" Diego ordered, Charmander let out a small fireball at Graveler, it didn't appear to do much, but Graveled did look noticeably more irritated after the attack

"Graveler use Rock Slide!" Forrest ordered, Graveler sent a barrage of Boulders at Charmander, Charmander managed to avoid all of them except 1, it hit Charmander hard sending it to the floor

"No, Charmander fight back! Use Ember!" Pleaded Diego, Charmander stood up, its claws began glow a light grey, and they grew sharper, he dashed towards Graveler and slashed him repeatedly

"I know that attack! Its Metal Claw!" Diego exclaimed

"Well, it looks like you have an attack that could damage my Graveler, but im still not giving up!" Said Forrest

"I hope you dont! Charmander use Metal Claw!" Diego ordered, Charmander dashed towards Graveler and slashed it repeatedly, Graveler looked noticeably damaged and out of breath

"Graveler, use Rock Blast quickly!" Forrest demanded, Graveler shot a barrage of rocks at Charmander, once the barrage stopped Charmander had trouble standing upright, it began glowing with a red aura

"Thats the Blaze ability!" Jack commented, remembering how it activated the other time, Diego immediately took the opportunity to strike

"Charmander use Ember! Finish it!" Diego commanded, Charmander shot a large fireball at Graveler it hit dead on and made an explosion on the arena, Graveler was still standing...

...but it collapsed shortly after

"Well, that settles it, you win Diego!" Forrest stated

"I told you guys I would win!" Diego said a bit pompously

* * *

**Renée's Battle**

"Let's make this battle 2-on-2!" Renée said

"Alright! Go Kabuto!" Forrest said, sending out his second Fossil pokemon

"Go Mareep!"Renée sent out her Mareep, like Diego's Pichu, it had a type advantage against Kabuto

"Mareep useThunder shock!"

Mareep shocked Kabuto with a weak jolt of electricity

"Kabuto use Mud shot!"

Kabuto shot various globs of mud at Mareep, Mareep barely managed to avoid the shots!

"Mareep, use Charge Beam!" Yuki looked very confused, as Mareep shouldn't have that attack yet, but her confusion changed to awe as Mareep began charging electricity in its fleece then it shot the beam at Kabuto who went down after the shot

"Thats amazing!" Forrest commented "Mareep shouldn't have that move until its evolved! But the battle isn't over yet! Go Graveler!"

"Im sticking with Mareep!" Renée announced, she was confident she could win

"Mareep, use Growl!" Renée said, Mareep growled at Graveler in an attempt to intimidate it

"That's a smart move, Growl can lower the opponents attack strength!" Jack noted

"Graveler, use Bulldoze!" Forrest commanded, Graveler stomped on the ground causing a small earthquake that shook the building, Mareep went down extremely quick!

"Woah, how did... oh man!" Renée stammered, she was speechless "G-go Growlithe!" Renée was hesitant in sending Growlithe out

"Graveler, use Rock Blast!" Graveler shot round after round of rocks at Growlithe until Growlithe could barely stand up

"Oh no, Growlithe please get up!" Renée pleaded, Growlithe got up, though it could barely stand up, though to everyone's surprise, Growlithe started glowing with a light blue/white aura, Renée quickly caught on to what Growlithe was doing

"Growlithe, use Reversal!" Growlithe charged towards Growlithe and dashed into it, launching Graveler back several feet, knocking it out.

"Wow, I'm just getting dominated today aren't I!" Forrest chuckled, handing Renée her Badge

* * *

**Jack's Battle**

"Alright Jack, you're the last one to battle for the badge!" Forrest announced

"I'll be sure to be the toughest battle yet!" Jack replied

"Im sure you will, go Onix!" Forrest commented, sending out Onix

"Onix?" Julia scanned the pokemon in the dex

"Onix: the Rock Snake pokemon; It usually lives underground, it searches for food while burrowing its way underground at 50 miles per hour"

"Onix huh? Alright then Bulbasaur, show us what you've got!" Jack exclaimed, sending out his Bulbasaur "Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip and slam it down!"

Bulbasaur lashed out its vines at Onix, but instead of whipping it, Bulbasaur lifted Onix off of the ground, spun Onix around a bit and then SLAMMED Onix back onto the battlefield. Forrest was shocked at this.

"For a Bulbasaur to lift an Onix off the ground, it has to be incredibly strong!" He said, the others were speechless

"But as impressive as it was I'm not giving up! Onix, use Rock Tomb!" Onix launched several boulders at Bulbasaur, Bulbasaur just barely managed to avoid them all

"Bulbasaur, use Sleep Powder!" Bulbasaur then sprayed a mist of light blue powder at Onix, due to its large size, Onix couldn't get away, and it quickly fell asleep

"Uh-oh!" Forrest said, genuinely worried

"Now, Leech Seed!" Bulbasaur then shot one seed at Onix which easily hit its target, Onix's health was quickly sapped and it was knocked out

"Thats one down!" Jack said

"Well Graveler is much stronger!" Forrest warned, he then sent out his Graveler again

"Leech Seed!" Jack ordered and before Graveler could react he was hit with the seed

"Graveler, use Rock Slide!" Graveler launched boulders at Bulbasaur

"Bulbasaur, head right through it!" Jack commanded

"What?!" Julia screamed

"Are you crazy!?" Yuki shouted

But Bulbasaur wasn't getting hurt, he was instead jumping from boulder to boulder, avoiding them all!

"Now, Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur then extended its vines and smacked Graveler with them, with the speed Bulbasaur reached from hopping the boulders, Bulbasaur gained enough velocity for the Vine Whip to cause serious damage

"Lets finish it with one more Vine Whip!" Jack stated, Bulbasaur used the vines to latch onto Gravelers arm and swing him into the wall, knocking Graveler out and giving Jack the win!

"Im very impressed Jack, you have incredible potential as a trainer, all of you do! But to be honest, I wasnt not really trying, I have pokemon much stronger than the ones you have seen!"

The trainers were shocked with Forrest's statement, Diego however, looked eager

"I guess that means we'll have to battle again someday!" He said

"I look forward to it!" Forrest answered, handing Jack his Boulder Badge "But before you go, take these" He handed the 5 of them small brown colored disks

"What are these?" Julia asked

"Those are TM's or Technical Machines, they teach moves to your pokemon! I usually give them to trainers who have successfully defeated me!" Forrest explained

"Wait! But I never battled you!" Yuki stated

"True, but your friends told me you're aiming to be a Coordinator, a TM could surely help!" Forrest explained, Yuki smiled at his words "Good luck to all of you!" and with that the group continued onwards towards Mt. Moon

"So Yuki, are you going to stay with us?" Julia asked

"Maybe, my first Pokemon Contest is in Cerulean City so staying with you might be fun!" Yuki answered

"Great! The more the merrier!" Julia commented

* * *

Meanwhile in a zeppelin above them a group of people were talking, they were obscured by the shadows

"Empress we are approaching Mt. Moon!" One of the people said, the voice said, it sounded like a man

"Excellent, send the Beta Squadron down there!" A woman's voice answered, this person seemed to be sitting on a throne above all the others "Keep an eye on these four trainers as well, they can be... useful!" Four cameras then focus on Jack, Simon, Ray, and Pandora. The last we see of this figure is a glowing red eye shining from what appears to be a mask the woman wears...

* * *

**And that is the first gym battle! Did you enjoy it? What do those people plan to do with Pandora, Simon, Ray, and Jack? And what do they plan to do at Mt. Moon? These questions will be answered soon, but for now, let me know how you felt about the chapter in the reviews! ^_^**


	9. The Calm Before the Storm

**And here is Chapter 9, the previous chapter was handled very poorly and I apologize for that, how do you want gym battles to be handled? One battle per chapter? Let me know how you feel? As for THIS chapter, I'd say this is the first REAL filler chapter, consider it the calm before the storm! Anyway, read it, review it, and let me know how you feel about it!**

* * *

The 5 trainers had left Pewter City, Yuki was heading to Cerulean City which was past Mt. Moon, but to head to Mt. Moon, they had to go through half of Route 3. Route 3 itself was a bit rough in its terrain, over the years it became a bit dangerous to travel through as rock slides became more common. There was a Pokemon Center at the base of Mt. Moon which was safe from the rock slides.

"So Yuki, are you ready for your first Contest?" Renée asked

"Oh, I don't know, maybe I could use some more training. What if I fail?!" Yuki stammered

"You'll do fine! Im sure of it!" Diego reassured

Just then, seemingly out of nowhere, a shadow swooped down at the group. It looked like a bird...

"What kind of Pokemon was that?!" Jack questioned, trying to scan it with his Pokedex, however the shadow was too fast and was already gone...

"We should keep moving before it comes back! Whatever it is its definitely mean!" Julia warned. They soon heard a bird call out and the 5 of them looked on in horror as an entire flock of Spearow.

"Ruuuuuuuuunnn!" Jack screamed

The 5 of them ran as fast as they could, eventually they came across a small pink fluffy ball, it turned around to face the group, it had two large blue eyes and a tuft of fur on the top of its head. Once the pokemon noticed the Spearow flying towards the group it jumped over them.

"No, stop its too dangerous!" Julia called out, trying to stop the pokemon from fighting a fight it seemingly could not win. The group stopped and tried to help the pokemon from getting hurt, but the Spearow were closing in fast, they were all astounded when the pokemon began to sing!

"Jigglypuff jigglyyyy pufff..." it sang, almost immediately, the flock fell to the ground, they had all fallen asleep

The pokemon, Jigglypuff as it was called turned to face the group and smiled

"That was amazing!" Renée said, Diego and Jack were struck dumb with what just occured

"Eeeeeeek!" Julia squealed, she ran up to the Jigglypuff with bliss "Its so cute! And it put all those Spearow to sleep all at once!" Jigglypuff was very happy with Julia's words and began to play with her

"Oh, I see you've found my Jigglypuff!" A voice said, the 5 trainers turned to face the voice, it was a young woman, she wore a brown blouse, with a pink bow and navy blue skirt, she had black hair that reached her shoulders, the Jigglypuff stopped playing with Julia and ran up to the woman who lifted up the Jigglypuff. Julia and Yuki seemed upset that they couldnt catch the Jigglypuff since it had a trainer

"Oh, this pokemon belongs to you?" Yuki asked

"Yes, that's correct, I saw what happened earlier. My name is Bella, please come into my cottage and rest up!" The woman, Bella suggested, the group followed her inside.

* * *

"So Ms. Bella , your Jigglypuff must be strong to be able to put an entire flock of Spearow to sleep!" Jack stated

"Yes, my Jigglypuff is stronger than the normal Jigglypuff that are usually found here. This one also has a much more potent singing voice!" Bella replied, she seemed happier with Jigglypuff's singing ability than its battling strength "And please just call me Bella!"

"Well Bella, if you dont mind me asking. Why are you living in a secluded area like this?" Renée asked

"Oh I... just needed space away from the big city!" Answered Bella, she seemed very unsure of herself with her answer, Yuki noticed this, but decided not to say anything, not wanting to put any pressure on Bella "But more importantly, I assume you're all going to Cerulean City through Mt. Moon?"

"Yup! Yuki has her first Pokemon Contest there!" Julia replied cheerily, she then went to play with Bella's Jigglypuff

"Oh! You're participating in a Contest? I have something that just might help you! I'll be right back!" Bella announced. Bella went to the upper floor of her cottage and entered one of the rooms, the inside was adorned with many photographs and items that seemed very royal and colorful, one of which appeared to be Bella wearing a large dress and she was adorned with jewelry, the photo does appear to have a name below it, but it is obscured due to the lack of light in the room.. Bella went into the closet and began searching for something, she found a pink box with a ribbon on it and left the room.

* * *

Meanwhile, Julia was playing with Jigglypuff, Renée and Yuki were discussing the Pokemon Contest, and Jack and Diego were talking about the next gym battle, Jack seemed uneasy knowing the Spearow outside seemed to openly attack humans. Even though Spearow are territorial, they would never lash out unprovoked. Unbeknownst to them, the flock of Spearow had awoken and a few of them were looking into Bella's cottage, looking at the group inside, they seemed to be plotting an attack on the cottage

"I'm back!" Bella called out, she walked up to Yuki and gave her the pink box she had. "Here, have this, it contains all the supplies you'll need for Contests! Even accessories like bows and glitter!" Bella said

"Wow, I dont know what to say! Thank you Bella!" Yuki replied "Were you a contest star?"

"No, sadly I had no chance to become a coordinator, although I loved pokemon, they're delights, and they are always so delighted to hear the songs me and Jigglypuff sing!" Bella sighed "Please come with me." The group followed her to her backyard garden. Bella began singing a sublime tune and her Jigglypuff followed suit. In about 5 seconds a group of wild pokemon came to the garden, they were all enchanted by the song, they all looked happy and at peace! The trainers were amazed at what they were seeing

The looks of joy on everyone's faces changed to fear and shock as the flock of Spearow from earlier, it was led by the first Spearow the group encountered which looked a bit larger than all of the others.

"Oh my!" Bella cried out, she had never seen anything like this. The Spearow attacked everything, the wild pokemon, Bella's Jigglypuff, the trainers, and even Bella herself!

"Poochyena, come give us a hand!" Jack called out, sending out his Poochyena, the others sent out their pokemon as well.

"Ember, use Quick Attack!" Yuki commanded, her Vulpix (Ember) dashed into one of the Spearow at a fast speed

"Spheal, use Powder Snow!" Julia ordered, the attack hit several Spearow and did some heavy damage

Eventually the once peaceful garden turned into an all out war zone, even the wild pokemon fought back against the Spearow. Jigglypuff was facing off against Several Spearow at once, it tried to lull them to sleep using Sing but was continuously attacked before it could, before one Spearow could finish Jigglypuff off, Julia appeared and saved Jigglypuff with the help of her Spheal. Julia went to help Jigglypuff and return it to Bella, who couldn't bear to see so much chaos, she ran inside crying. Julia followed her inside, leaving the battle.

* * *

Inside Bella's house Julia found Bella at a table, she was still crying

"Bella are you alright?! Did you get hurt!?' Julia asked frantically

"Oh, Julia, I'm fine, I just cannot bear to see such innocent creatures harm each other like this!" Bella cries, she then notices Jigglypuff wounded in Julia's arms "Oh my, Jigglypuff are you alright?!"

Jigglypuff replied happily, even though it was hurt, Jigglypuff was glad that Bella was ok

"I wish I could sing a song to heal your wounds Jigglypuff..." Bella said

"Wait, maybe a song could stop this fight!" Julia suggested "I dont know if it'll work, but we can try!"

A smile crept up in Bella's face, the 3 of them returned to the yard, the fight was still going on and it looked like neither side was giving in, there were flames, bolts of electricity, vine whips, and gusts of wind everywhere!

"Are you ready Jigglypuff?" Bella asked, Jigglypuff nodded its head in approval, knowing what needed to be done. Just then, Jigglypuff and Bella began to sing, their combined voices sounded absolutely divine, the wild pokemon and the flock of Spearow ceased the fighting and went over to Bella and Jigglypuff they were all entranced by the singing, once they had finished, it seemed like the battle had ended and everything was peaceful again. However the leader of the flock was still battling Jack and his Poochyena, this Spearow still looked angry and willing to fight.

Jack was about to tell Poochyena to use Bite, but Poochyena charged without any given order. It tackled Spearow and began attacking it furiously creating a small cloud of dust that obscured the two pokemon for a few moments, once they had finished Spearow seemed disoriented

"What attack was that?" Jack asked, he was confused as an attack like that seemed very strange

"It's called Play Rough, I'm amazed Poochyena can learn it, after all it is a Fairy-Type move after all and Dark-Types like Poochyena are weak to Fairy-Types!" Bella answered

Spearow regained focus, but quickly collapsed due to exhaustion, seeing the opportunity, Jack grabbed an empty Pokeball

"I hope this works!" Jack said, throwing the pokeball, after a few moments, the Spearow was captured! Bella applauded Jack's capture

"That was very impressive Jack, and thank you everyone for helping to stop the fight." Bella proclaimed, they all viewed the damage done to Bella's backyard. Surprisingly, not much was damaged, a few fence boards broke but they could be repaired.

"Im grateful that only minor damage was caused!" Bella continued

"Don't worry, we'll help patch things up!" Diego said, the others quickly agreed and helped Bella fix the yard

* * *

A few hours later, Bella's home was repaired, Bella had the group stay over for a meal before they left. Just as they were about to leave however, Jigglypuff started following Julia around everywhere, it looked at Julia with intrigue

"Sorry Jigglypuff, I can't play with you anymore! I have to leave now!" Julia said sadly, Jigglypuff was a bit upset by this, Bella however, quickly caught on to what Jigglypuff was asking for...

"Julia, it looks like Jigglypuff wants to travel with you!" Bella explained, Julia looked shocked

"But Jigglypuff is your pokemon!" Julia replied

"It's no trouble, Jigglypuff looks much happier being with you, here take her pokeball!" Bella said, she gave Julia Jigglypuff's pokeball

"Thank you Bella, that's so nice of you!" Julia thanked Bella for the gift "But won't you be lonely without Jigglypuff being here?"

"I will miss Jigglypuff, but I won't be lonely, I have plenty of pokemon friends here, both old and new (she is referring to the pokemon that appeared from her song, and the Spearow)" Bella explains, she then looks at Jigglypuff "Go on Jigglypuff, go and show the world the beautiful voice you have deep inside you!" Jigglypuff hugged Bella, the group decided to take a photo with Bella, as they said their goodbyes

"If you hurry you can reach the Pokemon Center by Mt. Moon by sunset!" Bella said

"Thank you Bella, it was a great pleasure meeting you!" Jack said, and the group pressed forward and waved goodbye

* * *

Bella went back into her home into the room where she found the Contest Box, which is revealed to be a room full of royal memorabilia, she placed the photo of her and the main group on a dresser and smiled at it, she looked at the other photo of her in the regal dress, when she looked at it she looked conflicted and lost in thought

Bella went to her backyard and began tending to her garden, she noticed the sun getting blocked out by something, it was a zeppelin heading towards Mt. Moon. She didnt know why but it immediately gave her a bad feeling...

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the zeppelin...

"Empress we are approaching Mt. Moon in T-minus 5 minutes!" One of the figures said

"Excellent! Our plan can finally come into fruition!" The female figure said The female figure's mask began glowing red where the left eye should be "And continue inspecting the four trainers, it seems 2 of them are nearing our target as we speak!"

"Yes Empress!" The grunt replied...

* * *

**And that does it for Chapter 9! Did you like Bella? I want to include her as a minor character. And what do you think of Julia and Jack's new team members? Next chapter, the antagonists are finally revealed, youve all been waiting for this!**


	10. The Big Reveal!

**I've been building this up a lot haven't I :P Well you've all been waiting patiently, so this is it, the big reveal!**

* * *

It was morning and the 5 teens had woken up and headed to Mt. Moon, but before they entered, they found 2 familiar faces at the entrance.

"Well if it isn't Ryan and Simon!" Yuki called out, the two boys turned and saw the group, they smiled when they saw them.

"Hey! Looks like you're going through this place too!" Ryan said

"Yup, why don't we all go through together!" Diego suggested

"Good idea! Mt. Moon his a pretty big place, tons of people have gotten lost here!" Simon said

"Isn't it also somewhat unstable?" Renée questioned

"Yeah, we should try to keep the battles on a down low, hitting the walls can cause a rock slide!" Ryan answered

The others nodded, understanding that they can't battle here. With that they entered the mountain

* * *

Above the mountain, the zeppelin had stopped and landed

"Empress, we have arrived at Mt. Moon!" One of the grunts announced

"Good, send in the Beta Squadron!" The woman replied

"Yes Empress!" The grunt said, leaving with a large group of people, another grunt took control of the zeppelin and took off once the group exiting the zeppelin had all gone

* * *

Inside Mt. Moon the group had encountered a group of Zubat, they seemed to be harassing a different Zubat, they majority of them looked like normal Zubat, but the one they were chastising was green instead of blue, and its wings were a light orange instead of red, Simon scanned the Zubat with his pokedex

"Zubat: The Bat Pokemon, it has no eyes. Instead it relies on ultrasonic cries for echolocation to flit about in the darkness"

The trainers did not know what to say, they couldn't stand to see the green Zubat being so they rushed towards the pack, however the Zubat all left before they could help, leaving only the green Zubat.

"What was all that about?" Ryan asked

"I don't know, but its awful that those Zubat would bully this one just because it's green!" Julia said

"Zubat are typically blue, so this one must be a shiny pokemon, they're supposed to be exceptionally rare!" Simon noted

Diego took out a Sitrus Berry from his backpack and fed it to the Zubat, its injuries healed afterwards and it seemed to like Diego!

"Looks like you made a new friend Diego!" Jack stated

"Yeah, it looks like it!" Diego answered, he pulled out one of his empty pokeballs "So Zubat, wanna travel with me?"

Zubat eagerly accepted Diego's offer and went inside of the pokeball, Diego seemed proud of his new pokemon

"Why is it that Diego always gets the easy captures?" Renée questioned

"I guess im just lucky!" Diego replied and the group continued going through Mt. Moon

* * *

Meanwhile, below the group in one of the caverns was the group of people from the zeppelin, they were catching any pokemon they saw, it was tough to see them as the cavern was a bit dark, the cavern did have torches to light it up but these people put them out, the seemed to be able to perfectly see in the dark without any issues, up ahead a Hiker and Youngster spotted them

"Hey what do you think you're doing?!" The Youngster said, the people didn't reply

"You're hurting these pokemon! Let them go right now!" The Hiker said, one of the grunts stepped forward, he released a pokemon from his pokeball, it was difficult to see but it seemed to have a red gem on its center, the gem began to glow ominously...

* * *

The group was still going until they heard 2 screams, despite the screams being below the group, they still heard it perfectly clear

"What was that?" Julia asked nervously, she clung onto Jack for security, causing him to blush again

"We should check it out!" Diego suggested

"That wouldn't be very smart. You have no idea if its too tough for you to handle!" Simon responded

"If we go in a group then we have a better chance of safety." Jack said, Simon hesitated a bit but eventually went with the group.

They followed the scream and found the Hiker and Youngster on the ground, the Youngster was knocked unconscious and the Hiker was moaning in pain. Diego and Ryan helped him stand up while Renée helped the Youngster

"What happened? !" Jack asked

"There was this group of people... they were... catching all the pokemon and hurting them... me and my son tried to stop them but just one of them beat us without breaking a sweat..." The Hiker explained "Is my son alright?"

"He's alright, just some scrapes and bruises, he just needs some rest." Renée assured

"Great... do you know the nearest way out?" The Hiker asked

"Yeah, it's just up the ladder and a few yards South." Ryan said

"Thanks! Be careful around those people, they could still be here!" The Hiker said, he took his soon over his shoulder and carried him out if the cave

"Th-those people sound like bad news!" Yuki said nervously

"Lets just hope we dont run into them!" Simon said

The 7 of them pressed on...

* * *

The ominous group were around several paths branching out in the caves, they seemed to be setting up explosives

"When do blow these sir?" One of them asked the commander (the one who beat the Hiker and Youngster earlier)

"Once we're in position! Leave a few caves open so people won't get suspicious!" The commander said

"Got it!" The grunt replied

"Now attention all grunts, search the cave and catch ANY pokemon you see, we will regroup outside of the mountain at 13:00 hours and we wait for the zeppelin to bring us back to base!" The commander announced

"Yes sir!" All the grunts said simultaneously, notifying the commander that they understood, then they all went into the caves, the commander then went into one of the caves by himself

* * *

The main group eventually made it to the branching caves the mysterious group were by earlier.

"Which path is it?" Yuki asked

"If one path isn't the way out then we'll just try the next!" Diego said excitedly

Just as the group was deciding, the commander of the ominous group contacted the grunts

"Blow it!" He said, the explosives that were set up earlier went off and caused a cave in

"Run!" Jack shouted and the group ran into different caves and got separated. Simon and Ryan were alone in different caves, Yuki, Julia, and Renée were together. Jack and Diego were also paired together

"Is everybody ok?" Renée asked

"I'm ok." Julia said

"Same here!" Yuki answered, dusting herself off

"W-where are the boys?" Yuki asked

"Ryan? Simon?" Renée called out

"Diego? Jack!?" Julia called out, worrying for all of them

"They must have went into a different cave, we should try to find a way out..." Renée said

"But what about the others?" Julia questioned

"They can find their way out, I know they can!" Renée replied, calming her sister down

"I hope so..." Yuki said

* * *

Jack and Diego recovered from the cave in and tried to find a way out

"You think the others are ok?" Jack asked

"I hope they are!" Diego answered

Jack couldn't help but worry about the others, he didn't want to see anybody get hurt, especially Julia, Diego noticed Jack's anxiety

"I'm sure Julia's fine!" Diego teased, Jack blushed in embarrassment and was about to retaliate until they heard something...

A swarm of Zubat came flying towards them, the boys ducked but the Zubat flew into tiny holes in the walls, they heard someone chasing after the Zubat, it stopped after seeing the Zubat fly into the walls.

It was the commander of the mysterious group of people who planted the bombs, he wore a navy blue army general's suit, gold gloves, and black combat boots. He wore a mask in the shape of a crescent moon on the right side and a sun on the left. He began to speak...

"More civilians, it would be best if you left. Quickly! Unless you want to end up like the two people who opposed me earlier!" He said

"So it was you! What are you thinking?! How could you hurt innocent people like that!" Diego shouted

"And why are you catching all of these pokemon?!" Jack questioned

"If you will not leave quietly, then I will have no choice but to take you out!" The man said, he sent out 3 pokemon, one was in the shape of a star, it was orange and brown with a red gen in its center, the pokedex identified it as Staryu. The second pokemon was shaped like a crescent moon, it was grayish-brown and had red eyes, the pokedex identified it as Lunatone. The last pokemon was in the shape of a sun, it was orange with yellow spires, its eyes looked as if they were closed, the pokedex identified it as Solrock.

Jack and Diego sent out their Bulbasaur and Charmander respectively

"Bulbasaur use Vine Whip!" Jack ordered, Bulbasaur lashed out its vines and struck Solrock hard, Solrock was noticeably shaken but stayed focus on the battle

"Charmander use Metal Claw on Lunatone!" Diego commanded, Charmander wasted no time attacking Lunatone

"Nobody beats Team Dark Star!" The Dark Star Commander announced "Lunatone, use Confusion on Bulbasaur and Solrock use Rock Throw on Charmander!"

Lunatone's eyes and body began to glow blue, soon Bulbasaur began to glow as well, but it was in pain, eventually Bulbasaur was launched back several feet. Solrock began glowing blue as well, but it telekinetically made nearby rocks glow and be launched at Charmander, Charmander had no time to react and was hit with the rocks.

"Come on Charmander you can do it, use Metal Claw!" Diego pleaded, Charmander charged towards Solrock and slashed Solrock

"Bulbasaur, use Leech Seed!" Jack ordered, Bulbasaur launched a seed at Staryu

"Staryu, use Rapid Spin, Solrock, keep on using Rock Throw, Lunatone use Psywave!" The DS commander stayed calm during the battle, as if he knew he was going to win

Solrock launched rocks at Charmander again, just like before Charmander had no time to react and was struck hard

Lunatone sent a pinkish-purple wave of energy at Bulbasaur, it hit Bulbasaur hard enough to make it difficult for Bulbasaur to even stand up

Bulbasaur's Leech Seed hit Staryu, but Staryu's Rapid Spin shook the seed off as if it was nothing

Bulbasaur and Charmander then began to glow white and their shape began to change, once the glow had ceased Diego and Jack knew that their pokemon had evolved, they no longer had a Charmander and Bulbasaur. Now they had an Ivysaur and Charmeleon!

Needless to say the Dark Star commander was a bit surprised but stayed calm

"This is awesome! Charmeleon use-" Diego was about to order Charmeleon to use Metal Claw, but Charmeleon instead shot a blueish-green flame at Solrock, knocking it out.

"Woah! That attack was Dragon Rage isn't it!?" Diego said, excited at his Charmeleon's power

"Sweet! Ivysaur use Vine Whip!" Jack said, Ivysaur grabbed Lunatone and slammed it into the ground, knocking it out

"That just leaves Staryu!" Diego said, but the Commander wasn't worried, he began to laugh...

"You fools, Staryu is much stronger than Solrock and Lunatone combined!" He said, Jack and Diego looked at each other, a hit worried

* * *

Meanwhile, Ryan and Simon had encountered a Team Dark Star grunt, the grunt wore a Navy blue jumpsuit and had the same style mask as the commander. However Simon and Ray were not battling with the grunt, they were talking with him normally, but the boys had their pokeballs ready just in case.

"Why should we join your group?" Ryan asked

"Why? Team Dark Star is collecting these pokemon to make them stronger, better in every way possible!" The grunt said, Rtan looked excited at the grunt's words, but Simon still looked unsure, the grunt noticed Simon's uncertainty

"We will also make the pokemon look as snazzy as possible!" The grunt assured, this was enough to get Simon's attention, the two boys agreed to the grunt's offer. The DR grunt took out a capsule that was shaped like a pen, it had a button on one end, the grunt pushed the button and tossed it in the air, the capsule popped and dropped to boxes with the Team Dark Dtar insignia on it. The insignia was the same as the masks they wore.

"These boxes contain everything you need for Team Dark Star: the uniform, crest, and mask! Im glad you boys have made the decision to join us, I'll show you boys the exit!" The grunt said, the boys followed him out of the cave

* * *

The girls were still walking until Yuki, spoke up

"Hey! I see daylight!" She exclaimed

The girls ran towards the light and ended up on the other side of the mountain, they found Ryan and Simon, who just out their Team Dark Star stuff in their bags

"Glad to see you guys made it out ok!" Renée said

"Jack and Diego aren't with you?" Julia said, still worried

"Im afraid not!" Simon said

"Hey, me and Simon decided that we're going to move on ahead. So im afraid we'll have to leave..." Ryan said

"Oh, so maybe we'll see you boys in Cerulean City?" Yuki asked

"Maybe, we are both going to compete in the contest there!" Simon assured, giving Yuki a confident smile

Yuki smiled back at Simon, and the two boys left

* * *

Meanwhile, Jack and Diego worked together to take out the Commander's Staryu

"You're out of pokemon! This battle is over!" Jack called out, the DR commander just laughed maniacally. He pulled out a large needle with an ocean blue liquid inside and injected Staryu with it. The Staryu then evolved into a Starmie, the boys look shocked at what just happened

"I told you you won't win!" The commander laughed

"We're not giving up!" Diego said

"Persistent fools!" The commander taunted

"Ivysaur use-" Jack called out, he was going to have Ivysaur use Sleep Powder, but instead Ivysaur attacked using Razor Leaf

"Charmeleon, use Dragon Rage!" Diego ordered

"Starmie, use Zap Cannon!" The DR commander ordered, Starmie fired the Zap Cannon just as the attacks were about ti hit Starmie, all 3 attacks collided close to Starmie, knocking Starmie out.

"How?! This is... this is... IMPOSSIBLE!" The DR commander said, he recalled his Starmie and ran off, Diego and Jack ran off after him but they couldn't catch him, instead they found the girls outside waiting for them. Julia ran up to Jack and hugged him

"Im glad you guys are safe!" Julia said

"That was TOO close!" Yuki added

"What took you guys so long?" Renée asked

"We were held up by one of the guys who caused the cave in, he's in a group called Team Dark Star!" Jack explained

"We battled they guy who turned out to he the commander of the group, we managed to beat him and our pokemon even evolved during the battle!" Diego said, showing them his Charmeleon, Jack showed them his Ivysaur

"That's amazing!" Julia said, admiring the evolved pokemon

"So this 'Team Dark Star', I supposed we should try to avoid them whenever possible?" Yuki asked

"That would probably be best..." Jack said

The group walked away from Mt. Moon, continuing their journey

* * *

Further on ahead, Ryan and Simon were taking a look at their uniforms for Team Dark Star

"Do you think we made the right decision?" Ryan asked

"Maybe, but we'll have to see what tasks were assigned to do. As long as me and Classy will be the snazziest in all of Kanto, I'm happy!" Simon said, he was also playing with his Bellsprout, which he nicknamed Classy

Ryan looked at his Magby, it smiled at him, and Ryan smiled back. Ryan still felt unsure about his decision but he knew he would just forget about it once he started doing work for Team Dark Star.

The two boys packed up their things and continued walking until they entered Cerulean City

* * *

**And this is the end of the first arc of the story! Don't worry, the story is far from over and I wont make a completely new story for the next arc. But let me explain what I mean about the 'arc' being over. The story will have several arcs, this chapter marks the end of the Beginning Arc. The next arc will be the Separation Arc. The arcs will all make up a Saga, this is the Kanto saga, the next region the group travels to will be the next Saga, like the Johto Saga or the Kalos Saga. But that is for a later date, how did you feel about Team Dark Star? What will the next arc bring? How do you feel about Diego catching a shiny Zubat? Let me know in the reviews! ^_^**


	11. Confession of a Princess

**To start the 2nd arc off, I decided to have a bit of filler. I know you all wanted a bit of action and something that progressed the story but I want to try something new. Filler chapters won't really further the story, but it will explain the back story of a character, or something. But I digress, enjoy the first filler chapter! ^_^**

* * *

Bella was enjoying the peace and quiet of her home. She was in her backyard, tending to her garden, some wild pokemon were helping her.

"Thank you my friends! Your help is much appreciated!" Bella thanked the pokemon, giving them some food. She went back into her home, into her bedroom. She grabbed a picture book off of one of the shelves and began to look at the pictures. She sighed, remembering what made her leave home and live by herself...

* * *

Years ago, in a large castle, a young Bella was in her bedroom, she still had her pink bow, but she wore a pink blouse and skirt to match the bow. She was playing with a variety of toys and she has a pet Lillipup. A butler entered the room. The butler wore a blue suit with a red handkerchief in his shirt pocket, he looked rather young having a o'clock shadow

"Madame Bella, your Mother and Father wish to see you." The butler said, Bella followed him to a large room where her parents were looking out a window that overlooked the Pokemon League and most of Viridian City!

"Master and Madame Larose, I have brought your daughter." The butler announced

Bella's father wore a regal black suit, his hair was a deep black (which was passed down to Bella) her mother wore a royal blue blouse and dress, her hair was a bright blond, and she had many rings and jewels

"Thank you Christopher, now please leave, we must speak with our daughter alone..." Bella's father said

"As you wish." The butler, Christopher, replied. He left the family alone

"Bella, as my daughter and the heir to the throne, you will have to lead this region!" Her father began, Bella looked confused

"As such, you will be taught how a member of the royal family must act! There can be no more frolic and playing, being a princess is a lot of hard work!" Bella's mother continued, Bella began to worry, she enjoyed playing with her toys and with her Lillipup, who entered the room and sat down beside Bella.

"We will begin right away!" Her father stated

Bella began practicing the typical princess routine, she had the easy tests first, such as proper balance and language, the she failed each test, her parents knew that it wouldn't be easy to train Bella, however she was still young, at this point she was only 9 years old and they figured she would get better as she got older, she needed to be ready for her coronation to be officially regarded as a princess, which would be when she turned 16

* * *

The tests continued as the years passed, Bella, now 15, still failed at the simplest of tasks she was given, her parents were beginning to lose patience with her.

One afternoon, Bella was tending to her garden in the castle's courtyard, she was planting new flowers with her Herdier (her Lillipup had evolved over the years), while she was gardening she began to sing which attracted some pokemon, unbeknownst to Bella however, this also caught the attention of her mother. She rushed down to the garden to chastise her daughter, she approached Bella...

"Oh, hello Mother! Would you like to help us-" Bella began, however she was interrupted when her mother smacked her in the face, leaving a bright red mark on Bella's left cheek

"Have you no shame!?' She screamed at her daughter "You have work to do! And get these filthy beasts OUT OF MY GARDEN!"

Bella began to cry, she was never hit by her mother, or hit at all for that matter, she ran back into her castle, Herdier followed her, trying ti help ease her pain, the other pokemon quickly fled the castle in fear of Bella's mother

Christopher watched the while ordeal from inside the castle, he felt sorry for Bella, but he couldn't help as he needed his job to support his own family

* * *

The rest of the day proceeded as normal with Bella doing her tasks, preparing for her coronation, and failing at her tasks, she couldn't sleep that night, she thought about how her mother had hit her, she thought about her tests and trials to becoming a princess. She looked around her room, all her childhood toys were taken away, the room was more or less empty now, all that was there was her bed, her dresser, the closet, and a window. Her Herdier slept in the corner of her room. Bella got up and left her room.

Bella aimlessly walked around the castle looking at the paintings and just exploring. Eventually she came across her parents room, her parents were still awake and it sounded like they were arguing about something...

"She continues to fail every assignment we give her!" Her mother cried "What are we going to do with her Arthur!?"

"What can we do!? She has become a failure, we've tried for 6 years but she refuses to give up her childish ways!" Her father said

Bella couldn't not bear to hear her parents' words any more she ran away from her parents room and to the courtyard where she began to cry. Her Herdier followed her to the courtyard and tried to comfort her. She began to pet her companion. She sat on the steps of the courtyard for a while before she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She expected it to be her parents, going to reprimand her once again, but she was surprised to see that it was Christopher!

"Princess Bella! Are you alright?" He asked

"I - I'm fine..." Bella replied, trying to lie to Christopher, though it didn't work, he picked up on the lie very easily.

"No, you are not Princess, I understand what you are going through is very difficult, but I know you can pull through! I have seen you grow up to become a beautiful and charming young lady!" Christopher said, Bella hugged him, still crying, he took his handkerchief out of his shirt pocket and wiped Bella's tears away

"Come, you should return to your room and get some rest." He said, leading Bella back to her bedroom, but she still did not sleep, it was then that she decided what she would do. Exhaustion finally caught up with her, and she finally fell asleep

* * *

The following morning Bella went to her parents for her daily tests, despite their words from the previous evening, her parents still hoped Bella would finally complete her tasks correctly. However before Bella had the chance to be given the instructions, Bella spoke up...

"Mother, Father, I refuse to do your tests any longer! I don't want to be a princess if it means not having the freedom to tend to the garden or to sing my songs from the bottom of my heart! I want to have the freedom to-" Before she could say anymore, her mother once again slapped her, again leaving her with a red mark on her face

"We have been nothing but good to you for 15 years and this is how you repay us!? You are no longer my daughter! LEAVE THIS CASTLE AT ONCE!" Bella's father shouted

* * *

Bella had gathered her things and exited the castle, her parents did not want to see her off, before Bella went away Christopher stopped her

"Bella, I'm proud you stood up to your parents, despite what happened it has been an honor to serve you and to watch you grow up!" He said, hugging Bella

"I'll never forget you Christopher, thank you for everything you have done for me!" Bella said, tears began forming in her eyes. The two stopped hugging and Bella went away, from inside the castle, Herdier watched her go off, it began to howl in sadness...

* * *

It took Bella several weeks to get to Pewter City, wild pokemon had either left her alone or helped her on her way, when she got to Pewter City. She went around the town trying to find work or a place to live, she didn't nit find any success, she left Pewter City and headed on to Route 3, where she found an empty cottage, the inside was old and tattered, but with a little work she made it look like new again!

She used the space behind the cottage as a garden, she was happy with the life she was living! She sang to the wild pokemon which grew to be her new friends. She used one of the wild Pidgey to send letters to Christopher who continued communicating with Bella via letters.

* * *

One day, while Bella was tending to her garden, she came across a wild Jigglypuff, it looked lonely and forlorn, Bella tried to cheer Jigglypuff up, but the pokemon was still upset, it didn't even want to sing! It was then that Bella realized the problem

"I understand if you're shy little one! But don't be afraid to let your true colors shine! Go on sing the song that lies deep within your heart!" She said, encouraging the Jigglypuff to sing. Jigglypuff sang a short melody, putting a wild Ratatta that was outside to sleep in the process.

"That was very good! Come, let's sing a song together!" Bella suggested, the Jigglypuff smiled at her, Bella took out a pokeball she had and Jigglypuff eagerly accepted Bella's offer to live as Bella's pokemon

* * *

The years passed on, Bella would have been crowned as a princess had she stayed at the castle, but she seemed happier with the life she lived now, her new friends seemed happy as well! Bella and Jigglypuff sang to the pokemon daily, Bella tended to her garden and made more pokemon friends every day, even encountering a few trainers! Life seemed peaceful for her, but one letter she received upset her...

It was a letter from her parents. She sent letters to Christopher regularly but she had never received one from her parents. The latter said this...

'Since you were banished from our home things have been easier for us. The only 2 that truly miss you are Christopher and Herdier. We do not know where you are currently taking up residence, but we honestly do not care. Do nit send any more letters to this castle or else you will be exiled out of the Kanto region!

Enjoy your life ~The King and Queen of the Kanto region'

Bella was crushed, her parents not only didn't miss her, but if she sent another letter to Christopher, she would be hunted and exiled out of Kanto altogether! Bella began to cry, Jigglypuff and other pokemon in the area heard her crying and tried to comfort her. Bella saw all the faces of the pokemon that were there for her, she smiled at them and wiped her tears away...

* * *

Bella snapped out of her nostalgic daze when she heard something...

"RUUUUNNNNNNN!"

Jigglypuff ran away and went after the noise. Bella put away her picture book and went after Jigglypuff.

Bella found Jigglypuff protecting 5 trainers, 2 boys and 3 girls, they were being chased by a flock of Spearow, Jigglypuff sang to the flock putting them all to sleep, one of the girls was admiring Jigglypuff's cute appearance, while another girl and one of the boys admired Jigglypuff's singing ability. Bella spoke to them

"Oh, I see you've found my Jigglypuff!"

* * *

**And that is the story of Bella! You're probably thinking Bella is like a Disney princess, well you're sort of correct. But Bella is completely based on a Disney princess. Bella was based off of a character who is based on a Disney princess! (Based-ception?) I won't say who exactly Bella is based off of, but her name and the name of the butler, Christopher, is a hint! Next chapter, we're back to the story! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, let me know it you want to see the backstory of another character! Let me know in the reviews who you want to know more about next! ^_^**


	12. Rules of the Ranger

**Back to the main story! The flashback chapters will only happen with minor characters or the graduates. Speaking of the graduates, lets get to the story!**

* * *

The 5 trainers continued on their way to Cerulean City, they were currently in Route 4. Route 4 was a hillside route, over the years it has become the bade of operations for a certain group, one of the graduates has even joined the group! The 5 trainers came across the base, there was a sign on it that read...

'Kanto Pokemon Ranger Base'

The group then heard a familiar voice...

"Hey guys! Good to see you again!" The group turned to face the voice and their faces lit up with happiness when they saw that it was Dwayne!

"Dwayne! Its been a while! What are you doing here?" Diego asked

"I'm following my dream to be a top Pokemon Ranger, I'm still a rookie now but i'm getting there!" Dwayne answered with pride

"Wow! What kind of stuff do you do?" Julia asked cheerfully

"Why don't you guys come inside and I'll show you!" Dwayne announced leading the group inside

* * *

The inside of the Ranger base was swarming Rangers, some were sending and receiving mail from other Ranger bases from other regions, some were heading out on their missions, and a few were just hanging out.

"Woah! I didn't know Rangers were this busy!" Renée noted

"This is why I'm glad I chose to be a coordinator!" Yuki joked, a boy had walked up to Dwayne, he had blond hair and he looked a bit tired, he had a pokemon with him. The pokemon looked like a yellow elephant standing on its hind legs, which were brown, Yuki scanned it with her pokedex

"Drowzee, the Hypnosis pokemon: If you think you had a good dream and you cant remember it, a Drowzee probably ate it"

The group looked at Drowzee a bit perplexed, the boy began to speak

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Dweeb! Having an entourage won't make you a better Ranger!" He says, he then looks at Julia and smiles confidently

"Hey Cutie! What do you say we go have some lunch later!" He flirts, Julia and Jack both scowl at him

"Anyway, I got a mission to take care of, later Dweeb!" He taunts, he leaves the Ranger base with his Drowzee following behind him

"Who's that jerk!?" Renée questioned

"That's Jethro, he thinks he's better than me because he captured a pokemon faster than me." Dwayne explains

"I already don't like him." Jack stated, Diego nodded his head in agreement, a woman walked up to Dwayne, she had dark blue hair and wore a Ranger Uniform, her ID Badge had 10 stars on it

"Dwayne, who are these people?" She asked

"Oh, Chief! These are my friends, Diego, Jack, Julia, Yuki, and Renée. They graduated from the Vermillion Pokemon Academy with me!" Dwayne explained

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you all! Anyway, I have your next assignment Dwayne, a small farm not too far from here has been experiencing some weird activity, they say they're dealing with a living cabbage!" She said

"A living cabbage?" Jack chuckled

"That's correct! Go on now Dwayne, you should finish your job quickly!" The Chief stated

The group of 6 went on to the farm for Dwayne's Ranger assignment

* * *

While heading to the farm, the group asked Dwayne a few questions

"Hey Dwayne, that lady was your boss or something?" Diego asked

"Well yeah, that was the Ranger Chief, Dana, she's the leader of the Ranger Base here on Route 4, she's also one of the 4 Rangers in Kanto to reach Rank 10, the highest Ranger rank!" Dwayne explained

"No offense Dwayne but your assignment seems really boring!" Yuki protested

"Well I'm still just a Rank 1 Ranger, a rookie Area Ranger, we get the simple jobs, the higher your rank, the more difficult jobs you get, Rangers like Dana get to go on missions in other regions, she even told stories about how she once saw a pokemon that looked like a bouquet of flowers!" Dwayne stated, as they continued, Dwayne told the others stories about him joining the Ranger Union and his first few assignments. He told them of how he got used to using the Capture Styler. They were fascinated with Dwayne's stories. Eventually they arrived at the farm, there was an elderly couple waiting for them. The old man wore brown overalls over a white shirt, he also had a mustache. The old woman wore a purple dress and a blue apron.

"There ya' are Ranger! The livin' cabbage is over here!" The old man said, he lead the group to his garden, there were several rows of cabbage and other vegetables, one seemed much larger than the others.

"There it is, the big one is alive I tell ya!" The old woman said, Dwayne walked up to the large vegetable and poked it, the bulb on it's head opened up revealing a red and blue budding flower, whatever it is jumped up from out of the ground and faced everyone. It had an adorable yellow face and stubby legs, it lacked any visible arms. The group all recognized the pokemon

"It's a Budew!" They all said simultaneously, the Budew became startled at the sudden outburst and retreated back into the dirt

"Well I'll be! So it was a pokemon the whole time!" The old man proclaimed

"So can you capture it with the Capture Styler?" Diego asked

"I'm afraid not, a pokemon has to be active and moving for it to be caught, the Capture Styler sends the Ranger's feelings through to try and calm the pokemon being captured down so it can be bonded with, but if it's like this then it'll reject any attempt at bonding!" Dwayne explained, he reached for a pokeball by his belt "This looks like a job for..." He said, sending out a Staravia. Jack scanned the Staravia with his pokedex

Staravia: The Starling pokemon: It lives in forests and fields. Squabbles over territory occur when flocks collide."

"So your Starly has evolved?" Julia asked

"Yup! Alright Staravia, use Whirlwind to bring Budew back above ground!" Dwayne ordered, Staravia used its wings to whip up a gust of wind that brought Budew back above ground, giving Dwayne the opportunity to Capture it with the Capture Styler. However it didn't end up that way, Jack's Spearow came out of its pokeball by itself, it sensed another strong bird in the area. Being competitive and territorial, Spearow began to attack Staravia!

"Spearow, stop!" Jack called out, but Spearow didn't listen, it attacked Staravia using Peck and Fury Attack, Staravia fought back using Quick Attack and Wing Attack, the Budew quickly ran away to some nearby bushes

The fight went on for a while, the group managed to lead the two quarreling birds away from the farm to avoid damaging any property

* * *

Once the fight was lead to an empty field, it seemed that it got worse, now that Spearow and Staravia had more open space, they could fly freely without worrying about damaging anything or hurting anyone. The two collided in the air several times, neither bird was giving up. Eventually Spearow and Staravia charged at each other with Aerial Ace, the two attacks collided with sparks flying as they collided, it ended with Staravia being knocked out and falling to the earth

"Oh no! No no no!" Dwayne said, he ran to catch his Staravia, which he thankfully did

"Dwayne, I'm so sorry, I don't know what got into Spearow!" Jack pleaded, Spearow was still an angry pokemon since its capture, Dwayne sighs

"Its alright, maybe you and Spearow should get to know each other better, then Spearow should be more cooperative then." Dwayne said, Jack looked guilty, the others will shocked at what happened, Spearow was still flying in the air above letting out a battle cry in triumph until...

"Drowzee, use Hypnosis!" A voice said, everyone turned to see that it was Jethro, he commanded his Drowzee to use Hypnosis on Jack's Spearow, the attack connected sending Spearow to the ground, it was fast asleep.

"I saw the whole thing! For you to just let your Spearow go on a rampage like that, you have to be a pretty bad trainer!" Jethro taunted, laughing at Jack's misfortune, he turned to Julia

"Still waiting for that lunch date Dollface!" He said, winking at Julia, she looked at him angrily, Renée stood up to him

"Listen here Jethro, you have no right to hit on my sister or call Jack a bad trainer, you don't even know us!" She shouted, Jethro placed his hand on Renée's chin

"Oh, sorry to leave you hanging sweetie! Well I'd really love to stay but I gotta jet!" Jethro said, leaving the group, they all gave him a nasty glare

From a nearby patch of tall grass, two eyes were watching the group, Dwayne specifically...

* * *

The group returned to the Ranger base

"I just got a call from the farm, Dwayne, you handled the task well!" Dana said, Dwayne smiled at his successful task, "Dwayne I've been doing some thinking and-" Dana was about to finish her statement before the doors had burst open, it was Jethro

"Im here!" Jethro said, the group's faces immediately went dark when they saw him

"Jethro, glad you could join us, I was just about to-" Dana said, before being interrupted again

"Promote me to a Ranger Rank 2! Aww you shouldn't have!" Jethro finished, this made Dwayne irritated, he was about to retaliate when to doors opened again... it was the Budew from earlier, it seemed to grow a bond with Dwayne

"Well Dwayne it looks like this Budew has taken a liking to you! But Staravia is already your partner!" Dana stated, Dwayne looked a little sorry for Budew, Dwayne already had a partner pokemon, he was about to send Budew away before Dana spoke up again

"However, Ranger Rules #2679 has allowed Rangers to use pokemon captured in the wild to stay with the Ranger that has captured them, so long as they have pokeballs available!" She said

"What? That's not a rule!" Jethro protested

"It is actually! It became a rule very recently, if you paid attention you'd know that!" Dwayne said, Jethro looked irritated, he was about to retaliate, but Budew defended Dwayne, it used Stun Spore on Jethro, freezing his body completely for a few hours.

"Anyway Dwayne, on to my main announcement, you've done nothing but good work since you've become a Ranger, so I hereby promote you to a Ranger Rank 2!" Dana proclaimed, the group cheered for Dwayne

* * *

Some time later, the group was about to leave Dwayne and the Ranger Union

"Thanks for showing us the life of a Ranger Dwayne, it was cool!" Renée said

"Anytime! Feel free to visit again if you get the chance!" Dwayne bid farewell to his friends

"Again, sorry about what happened!" Jack apologized for what happened earlier

"Jack, don't worry about it, just try to bond with your Spearow so it won't go out of control again!" Dwayne stated, the group went on their way, they were close to Cerulean City

* * *

**So Dwayne has become a Ranger, you'll be seeing more of him at various points. Looks like our heroes have just about made it to Cerulean City and Yuki's first Pokemon Contest, but whatever happened to the Cerulean City Gym? Find out next time!**


	13. False Strength

**And so the story continues! Dialogue from flashbacks will be in italics. Big thanks to Generic Person the Fifth for Pandora's backstory! Enjoy :)**

* * *

The group was walking over a large hill when they reached the top they looked down and finally saw their destination: Cerulean City!

"There it is!" Diego exclaimed he dashed towards the city as fast as he could, the others ran after him.

"Slooooow doooooown!" Jack yelled, trying to calm his friend down, to no avail. Diego finally stopped when he bumped into a familiar face.

"Pandora? Hey! Sorry about bumping into you, are you ok?" Diego asked, Pandora looked up and saw Diego, she blushed a bit ash she saw him, he helped her up. Soon the others quickly arrived, they were pleased to see Pandora as well

"Hey Pandora! How have you been!" Julia asked, hugging her friend, Pandora was fidgeting with her Rubik's cube

"I - I've been ok..." She squeaked

"Well, we're here looking for the Cerulean City gym! I know it's here somewhere!" Diego said excitedly

"I'm actually looking for the Contest Hall!" Yuki admitted, chuckling a bit

"U-Um... The gym is 6 blocks East... and the contest hall is 4 blocks South from here..." Pandora said quietly, the others managed to hear her and they headed South, except for Pandora who still stood at the corner where Diego bumped into her. Diego noticed she wasn't moving, she just stood there fidgeting with her Rubik's cube while blushing a bit.

"Why don't you go with us. It'll be fun!" Diego said, taking Pandora's hand and heading off to the Contest Hall

* * *

When they all arrived at the Contest Hall, Yuki entered eagerly, a huge grin on her face. The best part was that there was no line at the counter! Yuki quickly went up to the counter and spoke with the receptionist

"Hello I'd like to sign up for the Pokemon Contest please!" Yuki stated

"Well you're very early! The contest isn't until tomorrow!" The receptionist said "But it's good that you're applying so early!"

Yuki was actually one of the first 5 people to enter, the receptionist handed her a blue card

"This is your Contest Pass, you can use it to sign in at other Pokemon Contests much quicker!" She said

"Thank you so much!" Yuki thanked, she and the others left, Yuki would have one more day to prepare for her Pokemon Contest! So they all headed for the Cerulean Gym to potentially have a gym battle

* * *

Diego found the gym and wasted no time in looking for the leader. The I side of the Cerulean Gym was an Olympic sized pool! A woman swam out of the pool.

"Well! Looks like I have some challengers, my name is Misty!" She said, she had long Auburn hair and she wore a light blue swim suit, she had green eyes.

"Yeah! I'm ready to earn my second badge!" Diego announced, Misty had a look of disappointment when Diego mentioned he only had one badge

"I'm sorry, but in order for you to battle me you need 2 badges!" She said, Diego looked defeated

"So if we need 2 badges to face you, then who is the 2nd Gym Leader?" Renée asked

"The Gym Leader lineup has changed over the years, I'm the 3rd gym leader, you should be heading to Celadon City to battle Erika!" Misty explained, Diego's confident look came back

"Celadon City is to the Southwest of here isn't? We should be there in a few days!" Jack said

"And once I have 2 badges then we can battle right?" Diego asked, Misty nodded her head and gave Diego a confident smile, the group left Cerulean Gym, knowing where their next destination was. But since the Contest wasn't until tomorrow and 2 badges were required to battle Misty, the group decided to split up and just explore Cerulean City

"So we're all going to meet up at the Pokemon Center at sundown then?" Renée asked

"Yup! Me and Diego are heading up to Routes 24 and 25 for some extra training, what are you guys gonna do?" Jack stated

"I need to work on a new performance for the Contest!" Yuki said

The twins looked at each other confidently, they reached for their pokeballs, the others knew what was going to happen. Yuki turned to Pandora...

"What about you Pandora?" Yuki asked

"Oh... um... maybe I'll just... look around Cerulean City." Pandora said, and with that, they group went their separate ways for the rest of the day

* * *

Jack and Diego were just about to head to Route 24 when they saw a sign, it said

'The Nugget Challenge!

Defeat a gauntlet of trainers and earn 5 Nuggets!

(5 Nuggets are earned for each participating trainer)'

"Woah! 5 Nuggets!? How much money is that worth?" Diego asked excitedly

"Well 1 Nugget is worth ¥5000, so 5 Nuggets would be ¥25000! Plus, if we put our money together we'll have a total of ¥50000! We'll be set for the rest of our journey!" Jack answered, the two boys' eyes lit up with glee

* * *

Julia and Renée went over to an empty park that coincidentally had a battlefield ready for trainers, the twins took their positions and sent out their pokemon, Julia sent out Jigglypuff and Renée sent out Mareep

"You can make the first move sis!" Julia said

"You'll regret that!" Renée teased "Mareep, use Charge Beam!" Mareep gathered electricity and shot it at Jigglypuff, the latter quickly dodged it

"Not bad!" Renée commented

"Jigglypuff! Use Double slap!" Julia ordered, Jigglypuff promptly slapped Mareep repeatedly, unknowingly activating Mareep's 'Static' Ability

"This is gonna be over fast! Mareep use Thunder Shock!" Mareep shot a small jolt of electricity at Jigglypuff

"We're not giving up that easily!" Julia remarked, the two battles furiously

* * *

Yuki was in a field just outside of Cerulean City with Ember (her Vulpix) practicing techniques and attack combinations for their upcoming contest

"Ok Ember, use Will-o-Wisp!" Yuki commanded, Ember breathed out a blue and white ring of fire towards the sky, the ring retracted or expanded based on the way Ember moved her paws.

"Ok Ember, let's finish it! Use Ember!" Yuki commanded, Ember shout out a small flame that went into the middle of the fire ring which retracted into the Ember, making a beautiful explosion of sparks. (Please don't get confused, the nickname of the Pokemon is the same as the name of the Attack)

"Ok, that was good! But we can do better!" Yuki stated, she and her Vulpix continued practicing

* * *

Pandora was walking the streets of Cerulean City alone, her Seedot and her recently caught Elgyem were with her. They were silent until a masked man walked up to her.

"Excuse me, are you Pandora?" The man asked, Pandora silently nodded her head in approval

"Great! I'm a member of Team Dark Star, we've been keeping an eye on you, and we want you to join!" He said, Pandora was understandably reluctant to join

"I understand if you're unsure. But if you join you can show the world what a great, powerful trainer you truly are! Think about it!" The masked man said, Pandora started to think deeply, she had flashbacks of her life before getting her pokemon...

Years ago, Pandora's parents parents had just given Pandora her signature Rubik's cube. They expected her to solve it in a few hours. Hours had passed and Pandora still couldn't solve the puzzle

_'I... I can't do it' _Pandora said.

_'Of course you can't! Why did Sydney ever give you that thing!? Go to your room and DO NOT come out until you have it solved!' _Her mom retorted, she spoke with her husband as Pandora went to her room...

_'What are we going to do with that freak?'_

_'I don't even know... why couldn't my brother just keep her!?' Her father said_

For the next few hours, Pandora fiddled with the Rubik's cube (which was a gift from her uncle, Sydney). She eventually mastered it and was able to solve it in seconds. Her parents however were still not impressed, years later, Sydney visited Pandora's parents, he had a flyer featuring the Vermilion City Pokemon Academy

_'It'll be a good experience for her! I grunted it!' _Sydney said to Pandora's parents, they seemed very eager to get Pandora out of their house, the agreed without hesitation. A few days later Sydney eyes dropped Pandora off at the Academy, they were at the Principal's Office, he seemed very eager to have the niece of an Elite Four member at his academy. Sydney was about to say goodbye to Pandora

_'I'll visit you often ok. Maybe someday you'll challenge me in Hoenn! Have fun ok!' S_ydney says to her, the two hugged and Sydney left. During Pandora's first day she didn't really make any friends with the others, during Lunch she struggled to find a place to sit, while she was searching, she accidentally dropped her lunch on Styles Kaizu! Everyone saw this and grew silent, Styles stood up and gave her a nasty glare, Diego and Jack went up to break up the potential fight

_'Woah Styles, calm down!' _Diego said, trying to calm Styles down

_'Yeah! It was just an accident!' _Jack added, Styles grunted and went off to change his clothes, Diego went to help Pandora

_'Hey, are you ok?' _Diego asked helping Pandora up, she blushed at him

Pandora was having a nervous breakdown, the masked man was confused and unsettled, though it was hard to tell behind his mask

"Um... are you ok?" He asked, this managed to break Pandora out of her daze, she looked up at him, she was still shaken up

"Think about it, you can show everyone how strong you can be!" He added, Pandora thought that if she was strong, she could prove to her parents how powerful she is. She can impress her uncle... and impress Diego too...

She shook the man's hand

"Great! Here's what you'll need." He handed her the same box that Ryan and Simon were given, she looked at it expectantly...

* * *

Meanwhile, Jack and Diego were having a great time taking the Nugget Challenge, they were currently engaged in a Double Battle with two boys

"Poochyena, use Play Rough on Geodude!" Jack ordered, his Poochyena attacked one of the boys' Geodude

"Rattata! Use Pursuit on Pichu!" One of the boys said, his Rattata began to glow a dark purple and began to charge at Pichu, knocking it back

"Oh no! C'mon Pichu you can do it! I know you can!" Diego said, Pichu began to glow white, it was evolving into Pikachu!

"Awesome! Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!" Diego ordered, Pichu struck Rattata with a bolt of electricity, knocking it out

"Poochyena, finish it with Bite!" Jack commanded, Poochyena bit the Geodude, knocking it out Poochyena coughed a bit, clearly disgusted with the fact that he bit a Geodude

"Alright, you beat us! That leaves only 4 trainers left!" One of the boys said

"But I doubt you'll make it that far!" The other taunted, he laughed. Jack and Diego went on, they were determined to go for the gold... literally

* * *

Meanwhile, Julia and Renée were still battling, their battle attracted a reasonably large crowd, the twins turned their battle into a double battle

"Jigglypuff, use Pound and Shell use Ice Ball!" Julia ordered, Shell charged up an Ice Ball while Jigglypuff charged at Renée's Growling

"Oh no you don't! Growlithe use Ember to melt that Ice Ball! Mareep use Charge Beam on Jigglypuff!" Renée commanded, Growlithe shot out a fireball that melted the Ice Ball, Mareep shot out another Charge Beam but Jigglypuff kept on charging and hit Mareep with its arm, sending Mareep back, everyone's cheering changed to awe when they all saw Mareep begin to evolve into Flaaffy! Renée excitedly scanned it with her pokedex

'Flaaffy: The Wool pokemon; If it's wool gets charged with electricity, its tail lights up. It fire hair that zaps on impact.'

"Super cool! Flaaffy use Shock Wave!" Renée called out, Flaaffy then drew in electricity and sent it back out in a wave that shocked Spheal, knocking it out

"Jigglypuff use Sing quick!" Julia said, Jigglypuff began to sing but was interrupted by...

"Growlithe use Reversal!"

Growlithe charged into Jigglypuff, taking it out as well, Julia sighed, everyone cheered for Renée's victory

"Ok fine you win... for now!" Julia pouted

* * *

Hours later, Diego and Jack were on the last trainer of the Nugget Challenge, Jack's Ivysaur and Poochyena had both been taken down as well as Diego's Charmeleon and Pikachu, leaving only Spearow and Zubat respectively. They were facing off against 2 Ace Trainers, one boy and one girl, the boys managed to push them to their last pokemon as well, theirs were a Scythe and a Pinsir.

"You 2 are really impressive to have made it this far!" The boy said

"But you're challenge ends here! Scyther, use Quick Attack on Spearow!" The girl said, Scythe charged towards Spearow

"Pinsir, use Vice grip on Zubat!" The guy ordered

"We're not giving up! Zubat use Wing Attack on Pinsir!" Diego announced, Zubat charged towards Pinsir with its wings outstretched, it left behind a golden trail behind it

"We've come too far to just give up here!" Jack added, he waited for Scyther to get closer to cause maximum damage

"Now Spearow, use Aerial Ace!" Jack finally ordered, Spearow charged at Scyther, almost matching its speed! However Scyther was struck with the attack. It, along with Pinsir, we're knocked out

"Well... I can take a loss!" The boy said, he handed the boys a bag with their prize inside

"There's a path up ahead that'll make it faster for you two to get back to Cerulean City! You guys have natural talent, I think you guys will go far!" The girl commented

The boys were about to head on the path the Ace Trainers pointed out, but they were stopped at a small cottage, a man stepped out of the cottage, he wore a blue shirt and khaki pants, he looked professional yet casual.

"Hey guys! The name's Bill, I saw you guys battle and you have the same spark in your eyes as the 3 trainers I met all those years ago!" He said, the two looked confused but they took the compliment anyway

"Sorry, I have a tendency to babble on about things, I created the PC Storage system!" Bill said, the boys immediately caught on to who he was

"Oh yeah! We learned about you at the Academy!" Jack noted "Sorry but we should be heading back to town, it's getting late."

"No worries! If you ever find yourself in Goldenrod City in the Johto region, come visit!" Bill said, the boys waved goodbye as they headed back to Cerulean City

* * *

It was night time and everyone was in the Pokemon Center talking about their day, except for Pandora who was in her room. Diego and Jack were showing the group their prizeprize

"So you guys won all thus!?" Julia asked, her eyes sparkled as she looked at the money

"Yup, we won all ¥50000! You girls should try the Challenge as well!" Jack said, Renée looked gobsmacked at the idea of the money they could have.

"We'll go tomorrow! Straight after Yuki contest!" Renée said

"Yeah!" Julia and Yuki said together

As they were talking Pandora was looking at the box the man gave her earlier, she grew excited at the thought of showing everyone how strong she was, she thought of proving her parents wrong. Pandora wasted no time in opening the box, the first thing she saw... was the Team Dark Star mask...

* * *

**And that's the end of the chapter, not much I can say really, hope you enjoyed!**


	14. The First Pokemon Contest!

**This is it people! The first Pokemon Contest! I've based them around how they were in the anime. But anyway you're here for the chapter so here it is!**

**ALSO I DO NOT OWN GARREN LAGANN IN ANY WAY!**

* * *

The following morning, Yuki was at the Contest Hall, she was feeding her Vulpix some Poffins she had prepared, the main group arrived soon afterwards

"Hey Yuki! Are you ready for the contest?" Julia asked cheerfully

"You know it! And I'm gonna win!" Yuki responded with pride

"You'll have to beat me first!" A voice called out, everyone turned to face the vice

"Sinead! It's good to see you again!" Renée greeted, Yuki gave Sinead a glare

"Well, this ought to be interesting!" Another voice said, it turned out to be Gareth!

"So you're competing too?" Jack asked

"Yup, and Simon's in it too!" Gareth replied

"This is gonna be a blast to watch!" Diego stated, the others agreed

"Hey, where's Pandora?" Yuki asked

"Oh, she told me she was going on ahead." Diego answered

"Oh, well that's alright, as long as she's having fun!" Julia added, an intercom system turned on and signaled that the Contest would start in a few minutes

"We should probably get our seats, good luck you guys!" Jack announced, everyone who was not in the contest left the room

* * *

Some time later, the main 4 had taken their seats in the audience, except Diego who was entering the room, he sat down with the others with a bunch of snacks, the others gave him an annoyed look

"Are you gonna share those?" Jack asked, Diego hesitantly nodded his head, the lights in the arena went dim and a spotlight shone on the center stage, a young woman wearing a flashy dress stood on stage and had a microphone in her hand, she looked tan and her hair was fancy

"Helloooo Cerulean City! My name is Anne Marie Jacobson and welcome to today's Pokemon Contest! Featuring Cerulean City's very own Nurse Joy, the C.E.O of the Pokemon Fan Club; Mr. Tsuchiko, and Cerulean City's Gym Leader; Misty!" She said, the crowd cheered "Starting today's contest is the Appeal Round where the coordinators will show off their most dazzling display with their pokemon!" The crowd cheered at her words "And to start us off, here's Sinead Haze from the Kalos Region!"

The crowd continues cheering as Sinead steps onto the stage, she is wearing a dazzling dress, her Budew is with her, it has a dark green bow.

"Alright Budew, let's do this! Show them the Aqua Seed Combo!" She announces, her Budew begins by using Water Sport to send a large amount of water into the air, Budew then proceeds to use Stun Spore, which sends a cloud of yellow spores into the air. These spores collide with the water, turning it a bright yellow. Budew finishes by using Worry Seed, sending a large seed at the mixture, the seed absorbs the liquid, causing the seed to pop, sending a lovely yellow dust into the air! The audience applauds and cheers for the performance.

"A wonderful starting act! Judges, what did you think?" Anne Marie announces

"It was just lovely!" Nurse Joy states with a smile

"I thought it was remarkable!" Mr. Tsuchiko adds

"I enjoyed the way she used the water add to the beauty of the appeal!" Misty said

"Well it looks like Sinead has made an appeal that looks like it'll be tough to beat!" Anne Marie proclaims, the next coordinator steps forth and makes his appeal

* * *

Some time later, another coordinator steps off stage, having done finished her appeal

"Up next is Simon and his Bellsprout, Classy!" The main group along with the rest of the audience cheer

Simon and Classy step on stage, Simon wears a purple suit and a rainbow tie, Classy has a red bow tie on

"Ok Classy, release the spores!" Simon commands his Bellsprout to start the appeal. Classy sends out a bluish-green dust (Sleep Powder), a purple dust (Poison Powder), and a yellow dust (Stun Spore) into the air, the spores mix together and begin to change in color rapidly in a rainbow-like fashion!

"Ok Classy, finish it!" Simon announces, Classy then uses Razor Leaf in a tornado formation, spinning the spores around, the tornado spins faster and faster until it becomes too fast to keep track of. The tornado then implodes into a gorgeous cloud of spores, some were crimson, others blue, some were green. Simon and Classy bow to the audience as they finish, in return, the audience claps and cheers

"Well judges, what did you think?" Anne Marie asks

"It was dazzling!" Nurse Joy says cheerfully

"Very snazzy!" Mr. Tsuchiko adds, Simon looked very proud of that statement

"That was awesome!" Misty cheers

"And it looks like Simon advances to the next round!" Anne Marie proclaims, meanwhile backstage, Gareth is preparing for his performance as he is next. He checks himself in the mirror and smirks

"Up next is Gareth!" Anne Marie states, meanwhile, Gareth is finishing up his preparations backstage

He takes a deep breath before stepping onto the stage, he is wearing clothes similar to Lance, the former champion of the Pokemon League, though Gareth isn't wearing a cape and he is wearing large glasses the resemble Kamina's from Gurren Lagann. He sends out a Staryu that was in a Ball Capsule, the capsule itself sprayed out bubbles when Staryu came out.

"Ok Staryu let's show them the Water Screen!" Gareth commanded, Staryu promptly used Light Screen, giving it a pinkish-bronze aura, then it used Rapid Spin and then Water Gun, the water was shot upwards like a whirlpool, the water had the same color as the Light Screen. Staryu stopped spinning and jumped into the water and appearing at the other end of the whirlpool, it finished the performance by using Dazzling Gleam to destroy the whirlpool, turning the water into a white/rainbow color and turning it into rain droplets showing a rainbow on the stage

"That was fabulous!" Anne Marie announces

"Simply gorgeous!" Nurse Joy inputs

"Remarkable...!" Mr. Tsuchiko adds

Misty is completely speechless, awestruck.

Some of the audience is as well, others awes cheering and applauding

* * *

Some of the other coordinators had their chance to show their appeals some failed while others succeeded, finally Yuki had her chance to make an appeal. Backstage, Sinead was watching Yuki from a monitor on the waiting room

"Alright Yuki... let's see what you can do!" Sinead said to herself, she expected her rival to have a great appeal

Meanwhile, on the stage, Yuki seemed very confident, she seemed extremely confident, she was wearing a dress that went with her hair perfectly, Ember (her Vulpix) had a white bow in its fur

"Ok Ember like we practiced!" Yuki said, Ember immediately knew what to do. Ember used Will-o-Wisp to summon bluish-white flames around it's body, then she shot them into the air, the flames repelled each other creating a gap in the center of the flames, then Ember used Confuse Ray to send a a yellow diamond shaped light into the center of the flames, the flames promptly began to orbit the light, spinning faster and faster. Ember finished the performance by using Ember (the move, this is gonna be confusing) towards the light, the other flames struck the light as soon as the Ember hit it. This caused a chain of explosions that looked like fireworks!

"Its beautiful!" Anne Marie proclaims

"Its a very unique performance!" Nurse Joy cheered

"Very charming!" Mr. Tsuchiko proclaimed

"That was really cool!" Misty added

In the audience, the main group also enjoyed Yuki performance

"That was clever!" Jack admitted

"I guess her training paid off!" Renée said, the others nodded

"And that ends the preliminary round, 16 coordinators gave their appeals an only 8 will move on!" Anne Marie announces, a large monitor above the stage was rapidly showing the 16 coordinators, eventually the monitor stopped on the coordinators who advanced to the next round, to their relief, Gareth, Yuki, Simon, and Sinead all advanced!

"For the next round, the remaining 8 coordinators will go head to head, battling for the Cerulean City Pokemon Contest Ribbon! But for now we'll have a short intermission!"Anne Marie stated, the crowd left the auditorium to either use the bathroom or get snacks, The main group went back stage to talk with their friends

"Awesome job you guys!" Diego said, congratulating the coordinators

"Its not over yet though, there's still the battle round." Simon reminded them

"You guys should head back to your seats, you don't wanna miss the show!" Gareth said

"Yeah, you're probably right!" Jack chuckled

* * *

"And we're back! The remaining 8 coordinators will battle it out for the prize! The match ups have been predetermined first up Gareth vs. Harry!" Anne Marie announced. Harry was a tall, light skinned teenager, he was battling with his Butterfree. Gareth was using his Machop.

"And... Begin!"

"Machop, use Rock Tomb!" Gareth ordered, Machop slammed it's fist on the arena, causing large chunks of rock to be forced into the air, Machop caught the rocks and threw them at Butterfree

"Not so fast!" Harry warned "Butterfree, use the Silver Whirlwind!" Butterfree spun itself around while flapping it's wings, generating a silver/white colored whirlwind which sent the rocks flying back at Machop

"Oh no! Machop, use Seismic Toss!" Gareth ordered, Machop recovered from the attack and charged at Butterfree at a high speed.

"Butterfree, use Psybeam!" Harry commanded, Butterfree began spinning again and shot a rainbow colored Beam at Machop, who got caught in the beam and began being spun as well. Machop then collapsed back onto the arena, eliminating Gareth from the contest!

"Poor Gareth!" Julia said, she was upset for her friend, but to their surprise, Gareth didn't seem upset by his loss, he even smiled!

"A loss is a loss! It can't be helped!" He said with a smile, Gareth recalled Machop back into its pokeball and went backstage

* * *

The battles continued into the semifinal round, Yuki, Sinead, and Simon defeated their opponents, the next matches were Simon vs. Harry and Yuki vs. Sinead

The two boys took their position at the stage, Harry sent out his Butterfree while Simon sent out Classy.

"Butterfree, use Signal Beam!" Harry commanded, Butterfree shot a green and red beam of energy of of its antennas

"Classy, Dodge it and use Stun Spore!" Simon ordered, Classy dodged the beam and used Stun Spore in Butterfree's face, paralyzing it! "Now Classy, use Jump Kick!" Classy jumped high into the air and came crashing down onto Buterfree's face!

"No! Come on Butterfree, use Psybeam!" Harry pleaded

"Classy, spin him around with Vine Whip!" Simon said, Classy grabbed Buterfree with one of its vines and spun it around in the air, before slamming it down hard onto the ground, knocking Butterfree out

"And that puts Simon in the finals!" Anne Marie said "Up next is Yuki vs. Sinead!"

A few minutes later, the girls took their positions on stage and sent out their pokemon

"Ok Ember, let's start out with Quick Attack!" Yuki ordered, Ember dashed towards Sinead's Budew

"Budew use Stun Spore!" Si end commanded, Budew sent out a cloud of yellow spores into the air, Ember came I to contact with the spores, slowing it down, but the Quick Attack still hit

"Ok, Ember, now use Ember!" Yuki ordered, Ember shot out a small flame towards Budew

"Budew, use Water Sport!" Sinead pleaded, Budew sent out a burst of water around itself which lessened the damage from the attack, but it still caused some heavy damage "Oh no!" Sinead yelped, Budew was barely able to stand up, but once it did it began to evolve into Roselia! Everyone was shocked at the evolution

"Ok Roselia, use Mega Drain!" Sinead commanded, Roselia and Ember began to glow green, then multiple small orbs shot out of Ember with a moderate speed, Roselia then absorbed these spheres of energy and when it finished, Roselia was fully healed

"Ember, use Will-o-Wisp! " Yuki ordered, Ember shot out the blue flames and shot them at Roselia

"Roselia, use Poison Sting!" Sinead said, Roselia promptly shot out a sickly purple stinger at Ember, poisoning it!

"Wow! It's amazing how an evolution can turn the tides of battle!" Anne Marie exclaimed

"Roselia, use Bullet Seed!" Sinead commanded, Roselia then shot a barrage of hard seeds at Ember, each seed taking its toll as Ember took more and more damage, as the last seed hit ,Ember could take no more and collapsed, giving Sinead the victory!

"And Sinead Haze is our second finalist!" Anne Marie announced

Yuki looked distraught at her loss but she took her defeat with grace and headed backstage

* * *

"And here we are folks! The final round of today's Pokemon Contest!" Anne Marie announced "And here at our finalists, Simon and Sinead! Who will take the ribbon? Let the battle begin!"

"Classy, use Jump Kick!" Simon ordered

"Roselia use Hidden Power!" Sinead instructed, Roselia began to glow red orange and sent out a wave of energy at Classy, knocking it out of the air

"Hidden Power is a move that changes its Type depending on the pokemon, and judging by the damage done to Classy I assume it's a-" Simon began before being cut off

"A Fire Type attack!" Sinead finished

"That just means we'll have to he more careful, Classy use Sleep Powder!" Simon commanded, Classy shot out the Sleep Powder at Roselia

"Roselia, counter act it with Stun Spore!" Sinead said, Roselia shot out the yellow powder, it collided with the Sleep Powder, causing it to dissipate.

"Roselia let's mix it up with the Hidden Seed combo!" Sinead ordered, Simon looked surprised as he wasn't prepared for this, Roselia began to glow again, it used Bullet Seed which had had the same red orange glow as Roselia

"Classy use Vine Whip to deflect the seeds!" Simon commanded, Classy did as instructsd, but the seeds still did damage, by the time Roselia and Classy stopped, Classy was already out of breath!

"Ok Roselia finish it with one more Hidden Power!" Roselia shot out the wave of energy again

"Classy use Jump Kick to dodge it!" Classy tried to jump over the wave, but it was still hit, this caused Classy to drop onto the floor of the arena, knocked out!

"And the winner of the Cerulean City Pokemon Contest is Sinead Haze!" Anne Marie announced, the crowd went crazy cheering! Simon looked a little upset but congratulated Sinead. Sinead was handed her Ribbon, which was Cerulean blue to match the color the City itself was named after, Sinead put the Ribbon on Roselia.

* * *

Hours later, the coordinators were back in their regular clothes and were chatting with the main 4

"Congrats on the win Sinead!" Diego said, congratulating his friend

"Thanks, so I take it you're on your way to Celadon City?" Sinead responded

"Yup, we're going to get out second badges there!" Jack answered

"Guys, I found out that our next pokemon contest will be in Lavender town, so unfortunately that means won't be traveling anymore..." Yuki stated

"Aww, but we were having so much fun!" Julia responded

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll meet up again!" Gareth said with a smile

"Well until then, best of luck to you all!" Renée said, the others said their goodbyes as the coordinators headed East towards Rock Tunnel and Lavender Town, as the main group headed South East towards Celadon City.

* * *

**And that ends the first Pokemon Contest! Did you like it? Don't worry, you'll see Yuki again, next time, the journey towards Celadon City continues!**


	15. Strengths and Weaknesses

**I know this chapter seems a bit overdue, but ideas are getting harder to come by and since school is starting up soon, I'll have to focus more on that, but I'll try to make more chapters. Anyway here's Chapter 15! ^_^**

* * *

The group had just left Cerulean City and headed South onto Route 5. Route 5 was, more or less, a straight path, with a few hills in the middle of the path. They were stopped when two small white figures ran past them, their heads were green and they had a red spike on their head.

"What was that?" Julia asked

"Should we check it out?" Diego questioned

"It couldn't hurt to see..." Jack said, the group was about to go and follow the two small beings when they found an old rival.

"Well, isn't this a surprise! Good to see you again... Jack!" Alan greeted the group with a coy smile on his face, the twins looked creeped out as they still were not comfortable with Alan. "We're going to battle again, here and now!"

"Well I'm not going to turn down a challenge!" Jack responded, taking out one of his pokeballs, but before Alan sent out a pokemon, he heard a nearby bush rustling, someone was watching them

"Wait... who's there!?" Alan asked, the bush began rustling louder, whatever was in it was afraid. "Suit yourself! Spinarak, use String Shot!" Alan sent out his Spinarak, it used it's String Shot to trap whoever was watching them, but the webbing stopped in mid air and began to glow blue, it was then shot back at Spinarak, trapping it.

"How did that happen?" Renée questioned

"We're dealing with a Psychic type pokemon..." Alan answered, he began walking towards the bush, but whatever was there ran away before he got too close

"We're going to post pone our battle, because I'm catching whatever pokemon that was!" He said, as he followed the pokemon

"So what are you gonna do Jack?" Diego asked his friend

"I'm going to follow the pokemon, who knows it could be really rare!" He answered, running after Alan and the pokemon, the others followed suit

* * *

Alan was hot on the pokemon trail, though he couldn't see exactly what it was.

"You're not getting away!" He called out to it, the pokemon left the tall grass, exposing it. It was the same pokemon that ran in front of the group earlier, it had another of its species behind it, though the other looked sick and weak.

"Hmph, got you now!" Alan said, getting an empty pokeball ready, but before he could throw it, the pokemon began glowing a light pink, it exhaled a pink cloud that obscured Alan's vision, preventing him from catching the pokemon.

"Pidgeotto, use Whirlwind to blow the mist away!" Alan commanded, sending out a Pidgeotto, it flapped it's wings to generate a strong wind that blew the mist away, but the 2 pokemon were already gone...

"Damn, where did it go!?" Alan cursed as he continued his search

* * *

Meanwhile, Jack was searching for the mysterious pokemon when he heard his friends approaching.

"Jack, did you find anything?" Diego asked, The group was silenced by a weak panting, the followed the noise and found the 2 pokemon resting by a tree, one of them looked very sick, it's body turned purple often, it's horn was also slightly larger than the other, showing it was female. The other had a scar on its left eye. Jack took This opportunity to scan them with his pokedex.

'Ralts: the Feeling pokemon; It is highly attuned to the emotions of people and pokemon. It hides if it senses hostility.'

"It hides if it senses hostility? Maybe that's why it was hiding from us!" Renée proposed

"But if that's the case then can't it sense us now?" Jack asked "What do you think Julia?" There was no answer, Julia was approaching the Ralts who already knew they were there, they didn't run from Julia as they sensed that she meant no harm. The others also approached the two Ralts who still did not run away, though the one that was not ill seemed to be defensive and protective of the one that was sick.

"Julia, you shouldn't run off like that!" Renée warned

"Oh, sorry sis! I just wanted to try and help the Ralts, this one looks really sick!" Julia replied, she was also correct, one of the Ralts was lying down with a fever, it's body turned purple for a few moments before returning to normal, this repeated multiple times.

"So how can we help it?" Diego asked, he approached the sick Ralts, but it's brother seemed to get defensive again and stopped Diego from getting any closer. It did not want anyone going near his sister. Jack took note of this.

"Ralts, it's going to be fine, we're not going to hurt your sister, I promise!" He said, smiling at the pokemon, the Ralts looked him in the eye and returned the smile, sensing that Jack was telling the truth. Julia took out a Lum berry from her bag and fed it to the female Ralts, who became fully healed, it looked up and smiled at Julia.

"So Ralts, do you want to travel with us?" Julia asked the female Ralts, it agreed without hesitation. Julia took out a pokeball and captured the female Ralts. It's brother looked surprised at his sister's eagerness to travel, but he knew that she would be safe with Julia. He faced Jack and gave him a confident smile. Jack understood that the Ralts wanted to travel with him, and he captured the other Ralts.

"Well I guess that's it then!" Diego said "So I guess you're going to go find Alan and battle him?" He asked Jack, before Jack could answer, someone spoke up.

"We're definitely battling now!" The voice said, everyone turned to see Alan watching them, he saw Julia and Jack catch the two Ralts. "And you're going to use that Ralts in battle!"

"You're on!" Jack said eagerly

* * *

They all went back to the spot where they were going to battle earlier, both trainers taking their positions to battle

"This battle will be 3 on 3!" Alan announced

"That's fine with me!" Jack answered

The two trainers sent out their pokemon, Jack sent out Ralts while Alan sent out a Gastly, Julia went pale when she saw the Gastly

"A g-g-g-ghost! Why did he have to send out a ghost?" She complained

"Gastly, use Lick!" Alan ordered, Gastly charged at Ralts, it's tongue hanging out of its mouth

"Not so fast! Ralts, use Confusion!" Jack responded, Ralts began to glow with a blue aura, it reached out its hand and used it's Psychic power to stop Gastly right in its tracks! It then forcefully shot Gastly away from himself, inflicting some noticeable damage

"So that Ralts is strong!" Alan noted "But that won't stop us! Gastly, use Hypnosis!" Gastly's eyes began to glow yellow, and it began shooting waves of energy at Ralts

"Ralts, use Shock Wave!" Jack ordered, Ralts began charging electricity from its horn and shot it at Gastly, destroying the Hypnosis waves and knocking Gastly out

"Not bad Jack, but we're not done yet! Pidgeotto, come out!" Alan said, sending out his Pidgeotto, Jack recalled his Ralts

"Its far from over! Poochyena, come on out!" Jack responded, he sent out his Poochyena, both pokemon looked ready for battle "Poochyena use, Bite!" Poochyena charged at Pidgeotto, biting it's leg

"Pidgeotto, use Gust!" Alan ordered, Pidgeotto flapped it's wings, flicking Poochyena off of its leg

"Smart! But we're not giving up! Poochyena, use Play Rough!" Jack commanded, Poochyena charged towards Pidgeotto again, knocking it down.

"Pidgeotto, use Aerial Ace!"

Pidgeotto recovered from Poochyena's attack and flew towards Poochyena at an incredible speed, the attack connected knocking Poochyena out

"Well that stinks!" Jack said, Alan didn't really seem too impressed though

"Alright Ivysaur, show us what you've got!" Jack said

"Spinarak!" Alan sent out his ace pokemon "Use String Shot!" Spinarak shot out its webbing just as it did when it was trying to catch Ralts earlier

"That won't work! Ivysaur, use Sleep Powder!" Jack commanded, Ivysaur bombarded Spinarak with the spores, dodging the String Shot in the process. The spores hit Spinarak, causing it to fall asleep

"Now use Take Down!" Ivysaur dashed towards Spinarak, knocking it back a few feet and into the air "Now let's end it with Razor Leaf!" To finish the battle, Ivysaur sent a barrage of Razor Leaves at Spinarak while it was in the air, since Spinarak was asleep and in mid air, it couldn't counteract, the attack, knocking it out and giving Jack the win!

"Yay Jack!" Julia cheered

"Thank goodness, I couldn't bear looking at that bug anymore!" Renée added

"That was wicked!" Diego exclaimed

"Good battle Alan!" Jack said, he went in to shake Alan's hand but Alan refused

"I don't think 'good' is a word I'd use to describe that battle!" He said, the others looked confused, Alan released his Pidgeotto from its pokeball, when he sent it out however, a red light flashed when he sent it out, rather than the usual white light

"Go on." Alan said, Pidgeotto flew off into the sky

"Why did you do that?" Diego asked

"That Pidgeotto was weak, it didn't meet my expectations." Alan responded

"But it won the battle it was in!" Renée stated

"It's weak, I dislike weak pokemon! Rest assured Jack, next time we meet I will win the battle!" Alan proclaimed, he walked away, the group glared at him as they went, from the skies above Pidgeotto watched Alan walk away, it had a sad look on its face...

* * *

**And so ends chapter 15! How do you feel about Jack and Julia's new pokemon? What's Alan's deal? Stay tuned!**


	16. Shrouded in Mystery

**Another chapter is here! But first, I have a message to everyone, even though I requested OC's before the story began, it doesn't mean that I won't accept characters now! If you have any ideas for any new characters you want to include, whether they be random trainers, gym leaders, antagonists, or anything else, send them! The more the merrier! But enough rambling, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

The group continued along Route 5, still a little distraught over Alan's actions, they approached the end of the route and saw 2 buildings. The group ran over to the buildings, when they got there they all noticed a sign, it had two arrows on it. One lead to the larger building while the other pointed towards the smaller building. According to the sign, the larger building was the entrance to Saffron City, the smaller building was the entrance to the Underground Path which made traveling to Lavender Town, Vermilion City, or our heroes' destination, Celadon City, much easier! Before the group entered the Underground Passage, an old friend stopped them.

"Hello again young trainers!" The group turned to face The person and seemed relieved and a bit happy to see Meridia!

"Meridia! It's good to see you again!" Renée greeted.

"Likewise!" Meridia answered with her usual sweet smile, her pale hazel eyes seemed to add a distinct mark of innocence. "I assume you're on your way to Celadon City to battle Erika for your second badge?" She asked them

"That's right! How did you know?" Diego asked

"Many trainers have passed through here to get to Celadon City! Ever since the line up of the Gym Leaders was changed 6 years ago, Celadon City has seen more and more new people everyday! It's almost as big as Castelia City in the Unova Region!" Meridia explained "I'm also heading towards Celadon for a very important meeting!"

"Then we should go to Celadon City together!" Julia chimed "It'll be fun!" Meridia smiled at her idea she happily accepted

* * *

The Underground Path hasn't changed much, it's still more or less a straight path, however ever since the Kanto Biker Federation vandalized the Path connecting Routes 7 and 8 years ago, the Underground Path has been shut down for about 20 years, it wasn't until funding reopened the Path and expanded it, making it so people from Cerulean City can travel to Celadon City and Lavender Town without having to go through Rock Tunnel. There were also specific paths in the Underground that went directly to those towns!

The group began to walk down the Underground Path that lead to Celadon.

"So Meridia, if you don't mind me asking, what sort of business do you have in Celadon?" Jack asked

"I have a meeting with some of my coworkers and superiors regarding Team Dark Star, I assume you've heard of them?" Meridia replied

"Yeah, we saw them in Mt. Moon, Jack and I battles one of them!" Diego noted

"I recommend you to stay away from Team Dark Star, they are very powerful and extremely dangerous! Please try to avoid them!' Meridia warned them, she sounded ominously serious, the group walked in silence for a few more minutes before Julia started up the conversation again.

"So Meridia, um... If it's ok to ask, what do you do exactly?"

"Oh! Well, I am a high ranking official in an organization dedicated to the scientific study of pokemon! It's similar to Silph Co. and the research my company does is very similar to Prof. Oak ' studies!" She answered, her smile came back, which lightened the mood

"That's incredible!" Renée said

"Hehe, thank you Renée, I appreciate the compliment, my company also tests the battle capabilities of pokemon as well!" Meridia added

"So you're a trainer also?" Jack asked

"That's right! And Jack, I would like to battle you, there is something special about you!" Meridia stated, Jack gave her a confident smile and accepted her challenge. Despite the Underground Path being shut down because of vandalism and pokemon battles, the funding received to reopen the Underground made pokemon battles no longer against the rules, so long as they don't cause any damage or hurt anybody.

"I'm always ready for a battle!" Jack said and the battle had begun "Alright Spearow, come on out!"

"Clefairy, standby!" Meridia sent out her Clefairy, which immediately caught Julia's attention

"IT'S SO CUTE!" She shouted, Renée and Diego chuckled at the statement

"Jack, you may use as any pokemon as you wish, and you have the honor of making the first move!" Meridia announced

"Thank you Meridia! Spearow use Fury Attack!" Jack ordered, Spearow charged for Clefairy, it's talons aimed right at Clefairy.

"Clefairy, use Meteor Mash!" Meridia commanded, Clefairy's arm began to blow with a silver/gold aura and it leaped for Spearow, hitting it squarely in it's face! Spearow was knocked out before it hit the ground!

"How did it do that?!" Diego asked gobsmacked at what happened

"It's strong and cute!" Julia said, still gushing over the Clefairy

"That's amazing! But this battle isn't over! Go, Ralts!" Jack sent out Ralts, who seemed ever to battle "Use Misty Terrain!" Ralts' horn began to glow, it blew out a bright pink mist that seemed to obscure Clefairy's vision!

"Obscuring Clefairy's line of sight to attack from a distance! Very smart, but I'm afraid it's not smart enough! Clefairy, use Moonblast!"Meridia ordered, Clefairy absorbed the mist and turned it into some sort of energy, which it then shot out at Ralts at blinding speed knocking it out! Everyone was stunned at what happened, Jack sent out his Ivysaur next.

"Ivysaur, use Leech Seed!" Jack commanded, he was hoping that the Leech Seed would at least cause SOME damage to the Clefairy

"Clefairy, use Psychic!" Clefairy began to glow with a purple and pink aura, it shot out a wave of energy that had a similar aura that made the air look glossy and warped. This energy destroyed the Leech Seeds and sent Ivysaur back several feet, making it faint!

"That Clefairy... it's incredible!" Julia exclaimed, still excited about the battle, Renée and Diego were stunned at how quickly and easily Clefairy seemed to be dominating Jack's pokemon, it had not even taken a hit yet! Jack sent out his final pokemon, his Poochyena, which had a disadvantage due to its typing.

"Poochyena, use Sand Attack!" Jack called out, he was visibly nervous, Clefairy had countered every single attack Jack had used!

"Clefairy, Moonblast!" Meridia said, Clefairy sent out another Moonblast which hit Poochyena before it could even use its Sand Attack, knocking it out and giving Meridia the win. Jack looked disappointed at his loss, Diego was still speechless at the battle, he couldn't even move!

"Jack." Meridia said "You losing the battle doesn't mean you are a bad trainer! You are still learning, the road to success is long and difficult, but you mustn't give up because of one defeat! There is a power within you... within all four of you! And if you want to unleash it you must never give up! Here Jack, let me heal your pokemon!" Meridia exclaimed, she healed Jack's pokemon as they all continued walking towards Celadon City.

"Meridia, h - how is your Clefairy that strong!?" Diego asked

"Clefairy is strong because of the strong bond she and I share! We've trained together for years! I also mentioned I work for a group that studies a pokemon's battling capabilities, this research has also helped it become stronger as well!" She explained

"Is there a way that my pokemon can go through this training?" Jack asked

"Perhaps, my company will contact you if they believe you are ready for studying!" Meridia answered

* * *

The group exited the Underground Path and were now on Route 7, it was a short Route that went right into Celadon City! Before they continued, Meridia stopped the group...

"I must take my leave now, it was a pleasure seeing you again, but before I leave I want you all to have this!" She said, giving Renée a wrapped box, Meridia left the group and continued used towards Celadon City alone.

"Well, what is it?" Julia asked, Renée opened the box, inside of it was four objects that looked like bracelets, they had some type of symbol on it that looked like the inside of a marble, it had a rainbow coloring inside. There was also a note on the inside. It read,

'Power does not only depend on the physical or mental strengths of a pokemon, it also relies on the strong bonds between the trainers and their pokemon. Take these Mega Rings and uncover the true strengths between you and your pokemon!'

The group looked at the Mega Rings, they were confused about how they work and what it took to uncover their power.

* * *

Meanwhile, Meridia was already in Celadon City, she entered a large building with a Cresent Moon and Star shape sign on it. The building was incredibly darkened by shadows.

"Have the other trainers accepted our offer?" Meridia asked

"Yes, they have, all except for one, the one you have been interacting with!" A voice answered

"I assure you Singularity, sir. That he will soon join us without any issues!" Meridia responded, she seemed a bit nervous towards the person she was talking to.

"Excellent! I've sent the new recruits on their first assignment, proceed with the testing as planned!" The shadow responded

"Yes sir!" Meridia answered, entering one of the rooms labeled 'E Class personnel only!' From inside the room, Simon appeared to be working on something...

* * *

**And that ends the chapter! What does Meridia mean by unlocking the group's 'potential' and who are the people she is involved with? Why did she give them Mega Rings? Who was the person she was talking to? How is she so strong? And what is Simon doing? You'll have to keep reading to find out!**


	17. Sightseeing

**This chapter was definitely not easy to make, but with some creative inspiration and some confidence, I managed to finish this chapter. As for this chapter itself, you get to see more of how the Kanto region has changed over the years.**

* * *

The group entered Celadon City, the city had grown over the years, the Dept. Store was larger, the Team Rocket Base underneath the game corner was reopened and converted into a training ground. The Celadon Gym was also no longer blocked off by a tree (the old man in front of the gym is still there for some reason).

"So we're here! What should we do first?" Jack asked

"First things first, we're going to the gym!" Diego exclaimed before running off into the city, the others soon chased after him, though they all got separated into different parts of the city.

* * *

Julia ended up in front of the Game Corner, she was to tired to keep running and decided to take a break, a Youngster exited the Game Corner and approached Julia.

"Hey, you look strong! Why don't you come and train with us!" The boy said

"Well I'm looking for my friend but-" Julia argued, but the trainer took her hand and ran into the basement of the Game Corner (the former base of Team Rocket). The basement looks much cleaner and more friendly, there are trainers all over the place!

"What is this place?" Julia asked the boy.

"This is Celadon City's very own Training Grounds! If you want to make your pokemon stronger then you've come to the right place!" The Youngster answered. "I'm Joey by the way!"

"My name's Julia! But, I was supposed to be looking for my friends!" Julia replied

"I'm sure you'll find them! In the meantime, why don't you stay and train for a while! It certainly couldn't hurt!" Joey said, Julia smiled.

"I'm guess you're right!" She agreed, she began to join the other trainers.

* * *

Meanwhile, after getting lost and eventually asking people for help, Diego found the Celadon City gym. There was an old man looking into the gym from a window.

"Um... excuse me sir but what are you doing?" Diego asked the man

"What? Oh I was just looking into this gym, it's great and it's full of women! Hehe!" The old man answered, he had a very suggestive grin on his face, Diego gave him a very disgusted glare before heading inside. The Celadon Gym was indeed full of women, most of them were tending to the many flowers in the gym. Diego stepped onto the arena to battle the gym leader, but found someone else had already beaten the gym leader! It was Styles Kaizu! Styles received his badge and began to leave the gym when he saw Diego.

"I assume you're here to battle Erika as well?" He asked, Diego nodded his head

"Then best of luck to you. Erika may be the second gym leader, but she is not a pushover!" Styles warned, he left the gym. Diego stepped onto the arena and approached Erika. Erika herself looked older, her hair was longer and she was a bit taller as well. She wore an orange and green kimono dress with sandals.

"You're the gym leader right? Well I'm here to challenge you!" Diego said eagerly

"Another challenger? Well, I would enjoy battling you, but I'm sorry to say that my pokemon are in no shape to battle. So I'm afraid I'll have to postpone our battle." Erika replied, Diego looked disappointed.

"in the meantime, why don't you stay for a while and help around the garden? It's your choice!" Erika added.

"Sure!" Diego agreed, the two began to tend to the garden with the others.

* * *

At the same time, Renée was still looking for Diego, she took a break from her search to sit down on a bench in front of an apartment building. An elderly woman approached her.

"Hello dearie, is everything alright?" She asked

"Hm? Oh, I was looking for my friends, we must have gotten separated." Renée answered

"Well Celadon City is a big place, but once you get accustomed to the area it becomes very easy to navigate, and there are maps of the city everywhere just in case!" The woman replied "Why don't you come inside for some tea, your friends will most likely find each other or find the Pokemon Center and regroup there!"

"Well I suppose it wouldn't hurt." Renée responded, the two entered the building, the old woman gave Renée a cup of tea and sat down with her.

"I never told you my name did I? I'm Mrs. Masters! I own this building, and I was once the champion the Unova Region!" Mrs. Masters explained

"Really? What are you doing here in Kanto? Oh, I'm Renée by the way!" Renée asked

"I much prefer the quiet life, my husband, Alder became the champion, though he passed the position down to a young girl named Iris, though I've received news that my grandson plans on challenging Iris soon!" Mrs. Masters said.

"That's amazing! How long have you been in Kanto?"

"Many years! I've seen many trainers become strong! Many years ago, back when Celadon City was much smaller, a boy named Red defeated all of the gym leaders, took down the criminal organization of Team Rocket, and become the champion of Kanto!" Mrs. Master continued to tell Renée stories of Kanto and how it had changed over the years. Outside, a boy with short blond hair, peachy skin, And green eyes was running along the streets, he seemed very worried. Just as he turned around the corner of the street, he bumped into Jack.

"Ow, what was that about?" Jack asked, he was rubbing his head in pain.

"Sorry about running into ya'! I'm worried about my Azurill, it's gone missing!" The boy responded, he spoke with an Irish accent.

"No need to worry, I'll help you find it, my name's Jack by the way!"

"The name's Ronan, and I greatly appreciate the help!" Ronan answered, the two boys searched around Celadon City for Ronan's Azurill.

* * *

Back in the Training Grounds, Julia seemed to be defeating trainers all over the place! Her pokemon learned a variety of new moves, her Spheal learned Aurora Beam and Protect, Jigglypuff learned Draining Kiss and Mega Punch, and Ralts learned Magical Leaf and Lucky Chant! Joey stood onto the arena.

"Wow Julia, you're really strong!" Joey said in admiration, he took out a pokeball with a star shaped sticker from his belt "But now you'll battle me! My dad gave me this pokemon, and it's top percentage!" Joey sent out the pokemon which turned out to be...

.

.

.

A Rattata!

Julia sent out her Jigglypuff to battle, both pokemon traded blow for blow, neither side gave an inch!

* * *

Jack and Ronan's search lead them to an alleyway where they found a group of people just like the group at Mt. Moon, they put Azurill in a cage.

"Hey, what do ya' think you're doing with my Azurill?!" Ronan shouted, the group turned to face the two trainers, their masks began to glow an eerie red from their eyes. One of them spoke up.

"Leave now, or else you'll be introduced to a world of pain! Courtesy of Team Dark Star!" The TDS grunt threatened, the two boys stood their ground.

"So be it..." The grunt said, Jack sent out his Poochyena while Ronan sent out a Swablu, the battle was on. As they boys were battling the Team Dark Star grunts, Renée and Mrs. Masters continued their conversation.

"You must be cautious Renée, Kanto has been up in arms about the caves in Mt. Moon collapsing, the Officer Jennys around the region have teamed up and discovered that the group of people behind the collapse are known as Team Dark Star." Mrs. Masters explained

"I know, I was in Mt. Moon when it collapsed, me and my friends thankfully made it out safely, but who exactly is Team Dark Star?" Renée asked

"They've been around much longer than you may think! They started appearing ever since the knew Silph Co. Building opened up here in Celadon, but that must be a coincidence, Silph Co. may be the largest corporation in Kanto, but it would make no sense if they were to destroy it! They would just ruin their own business!" Mrs. Masters said

"Shouldn't we fight back?" Renée proposed

"Perhaps... though it would take a strong trainer to defeat them. If I can get in contact with the champion of Kanto then maybe I can get him to help!" Mrs. Master answered "in the meantime, I may have something that may very well be a great help to you!" Mrs. Masters stood up from her seat and left the room, she quickly came back holding an incubator with a pokemon egg inside. The egg was yellow-green with some red markings on it.

"This egg contains a pokemon that my family highly regards! It is very powerful and few trainers have one, and I would like you to have it!"

"As Are you sure?" Renée questioned, Mrs. Masters nodded her head in approval

"it will take some time to hatch, but once it does, it should prove to be a very worthy addition to your team!" Renée looked at the egg with wonder in her eyes...

* * *

Meanwhile at the Celadon Gym, Diego and Erika were taking a break from the gardening, Diego and Erika were talking about how Kanto had changed over the years.

"So what happened after Ethan beat Red?" Diego asked

"Im not sure what happened to either of them, but about 9 years after the battle, the princess of Kanto was born!" Erika said

"Wait, Kanto has a princess?" Diego asked, Erika nodded

"Yes! Though i can't completely remember her name, I believe it was Ella? Anyway, the royal family does not fully control Kanto, though they have a large role in this region's government! Anyway, around that time the Vermilion Pokemon Academy was built. Most trainers attend that academy if they plan on pursuing a career involving pokemon, whether it's becoming a pokemon coordinator, ranger, scientist, or a trainer!"

"Hey, my friends and I graduated from the academy!" Diego added, Erika smiled at him

"That's really great! Around 2 years after the Academy was built, Silph Co. built another building here in Celadon. Though I find it a bit confusing as to why since they seemed well enough with their main building in Saffron. Ever since then, the champion of Kanto, Red, left Kanto to explore the world. Eventually his rival, Blue Oak, took over as Champion again." Erika continued

"Wait, Blue Oak? Again?" Diego asked

"Oh Blue is the grandson of Professor Oak, and he first became champion almost 30 years ago! Just after he became champion though, Red beat him. He then became the gym leader of Viridian City, but when Red left he reclaimed his former title!" Erika explained

"So who's the gym leader of Viridian City now?" Diego questioned, Erika smirked at this

"I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise!" Erika teased, Diego pouted at this response

* * *

Julia and Joey were still battling, Joey's Rattata managed to take out Jigglypuff and Ralts, though Spheal began to gain the upperhand.

"Rattata use Hyper Fang!" Joey called out, Rattata charged for Spheal at breakneck speed

"Spheal, Aurora Beam!" Julia retaliated, Spheal sent a rainbow colored beam of energy towards Rattata who was hit by the beam. Rattata was knocked back several feet and stood up right again, though it looked very tired from the battle, it only stood for a minute before it collapsed again, giving Julia the win!

"Aww man, my dad's top percentage Rattata!" Joey whined "That was an awesome battle Julia!" The two trainers high-fived. Everyone else was shivering due to Spheal lowering the temperature of the room substantially from its attacks, the only person who didn't seem cold was Joey, despite him wearing a yellow t-shirt and shorts, Julia took notice of this.

"Aren't you cold?" Julia asked

"Nah, I wear shorts all year!" Joey answered, Julia looked at him strangely

"Why?" She asked

"Because they're comfy and easy to wear!" Joey responded, Julia looked dumbfounded by this.

* * *

Jack and Ronan managed to put up a good fight against the Team Dark Star grunts, the tag team of Poochyena and Swablu turned out to be fearsome, though the two pokemon were beginning to struggle.

"Scraggy, use Headbutt!" "Baltoy, use Psybeam!" Two grunts ordered, their attacks connected with Swablu and Poochyena, Swablu had fainted while Poochyena barely hung on. It looked as if it were going to go down as well, until it began to glow a familiar white. Poochyena was evolving! When the evolution had been completed the new pokemon was larger, broader, and looked much stronger! Jack scanned it with his pokedex.

'Mightyena: the Bite pokemon; They chase down prey in a pack of around ten. They defeat foes with perfectly coordinated teamwork.'

"That's awesome! Mightyena, use Bite!" Jack commanded

"I'm not finished yet! Jigglypuff let's do this!" Ronan sent out his own Jigglypuff, in contrast to Julia's, this Jigglypuff looked a bit more aggressive and ready for battle, hinting that it was most likely male, where as Julia's was female. "Jigglypuff, use Draining Kiss!" The two attacks connected with the grunts' pokemon, knocking them both out.

"Damn, those were our last pokemon! You've won this round, but you won't be so lucky next time! Take your dumb Azurill, it isn't worth it anyway!" One of the grunts shouted as they ran away, Ronan unlocked the cage Azure was trapped in and hugged his pokemon, happy that they were reunited.

"Thanks Jack, sorry for dragging you into all of this!" Ronan said

"No problem Ronan, we should probably go to the Pokemon Center and heal up!" Jack replied, the two trainers went to go heal their pokemon.

* * *

Diego helped Erika with her tasks around the gym for the rest of the day, the sun was beginning to set, Diego had a look of shock on his face.

"Oh crap! I forgot about my friends!" He yelled

"Diego please take it easy, your friends are most likely at the Pokemon Center waiting for you! I've kept you for too long anyway, come by tomorrow and we'll battle then, I promise!" Erika assured, Diego promptly left the gym.

At the same time Julia exited the Training Grounds and was shocked to see the sun was setting.

"How long was I in there?" She asked herself, she began to walk to the Pokemon Center to stay there for the night.

Meanwhile, Renée was still talking with Mrs. Masters in her home.

"And that's how I became the champion of Unova!" Mrs. Masters said, Renée was in awe

"That was absolutely incredible, maybe I should head to Unova!" Renée exclaimed, Mrs. Masters smiled at the girl, then was looked surprised and worried.

"Oh my, look at the time! Your friends must be worried sick! Yoh should head to the Pokemon Center, most trainers head there if they need a place to stay for the evening!" Mrs. Masters explained, Renée left the building, she still had the egg Mrs. Masters gave her. She was watching it intently, wondering what it would hatch into. The three trainers arrived at the Pokemon Center's entrance.

"Diego! What were you thinking, running off like that! Where were you?!" Renée questioned him with an aggravated tone.

"S-Sorry, I guess I was a bit impulsive, but I found the gym and I was helping the gym leader most of the day!" Diego explained

"Did you get a badge?' Julia asked, Diego shook his head

"No, when I got there Styles already beat the gym leader, I took the time to help the gym leader around her gym, she even told me about some of Kanto history! Where were you two?" Diego said

"I was in the Training Grounds inside of the Game Corner, it use to be Team Rocket's base!" Julia said "Where'd you get that egg, sis?" She asked

"Oh, I met this old woman, her name is Mrs. Masters, she was actually the former champion of Unova, she gave me this egg!" Renée answered, Diego and Julia were gobsmacked at Renée's explanation. The three of them entered the Pokemon Center and met up with Ronan and Jack.

"Jack there you are!" Julia called out, she hugged Jack, making him blush again

"I-Its nice to see you too Julia, hehe!" Jack answered, he was still blushing, he turned to Diego. "Where were you dude?"

"I found the Celadon Gym and I helped the leader, Erika, tend to the flowers and some other business she had." Diego answered

"Did you get your badge?" Jack asked

"Nope." Diego replied flatly.

"Oh! Everyone, this is Ronan, I helped him get back his pokemon from this bunch of thugs who are a part of Team Dark Star!" Jack said, Ronan gave the group a friendly smile

"It's good to meet you! Jack's been saying a bunch of good things about ya'!" Ronan greeted, while they trainers continued talking, something was going on in the Celadon Silph Co. Building.

Simon, Ray, and Pandora were looking at 3 containment tanks. One of them contained a pink, embryo-like being, the second had a gold and white life form with ribbon like appendages streaming out of its head. The third contained a large black mass. The three graduated were awestruck at what they were seeing, but the sound of a door opening snapped them out of their daze.

"You three, I want you to get some rest! Your training continues tomorrow!" A voice called out to them, the graduates turned to face the voice. They looked incredibly nervous.

"Y-Yes sir!" Simon answered, the three of them left the room and went to bed. The person who sent them off walked closer to the 3 containment tanks.

"This is just part one of my greatest plan, soon... I will rule!" The voice exclaimed, from the other side of the room two large machines were being built and a large containment tank (3 times as large as the others) was beginning to form something.

* * *

**And so our heroes have explored Celadon City and each has gained something from it! What pokemon will hatch from Renée's egg? What is going on with Simon, Ray, and Pandora? Who are they working for? All will be answered in due time. As for our heroes, looks like they'll have another gym battle in their hands, but should I make gym battles one battle per chapter, or should I just put more variety in the pokemon the gym leaders use? Anyway hope you all enjoyed the chapter!**


	18. Celadon Gym Part 1: Diego vs Erika

**Alright! Here's how gym battles will work for now, one trainer will fight the gym per chapter! If it doesn't work so well here, I'll try to fit it all in one chapter. If it works this way, it'll be how the rest of the gym battles will work. Enjoy!**

* * *

Our heroes were following Diego to the Celadon Gym, Ronan went with them. He wanted to watch the battles, though he already had 2 badges.

"So you've already beaten Erika?" Renée asked.

"That's correct! Not an easy battle either, Erika will certainly make ye' fight for your badge!" Ronan answered.

"Do you know what kind of pokemon she uses?" Jack asked curiously.

"Ah, she has a number of them, when I battled her she used a Gloom and a Tangela. Maybe that should give ye an idea!" Ronan explained.

"She can throw all she has at me! I'll take them all down, that badge is as good as mine!" Diego shouted. The group continued towards the Celadon Gym.

* * *

Erika was inside the gym, watering her garden, when she noticed a figure at the window, she instantly scowled when she saw it. Erika marched outside of her gym, past the rest of the gardeners.

"I've told you many times for YEARS now! Stop peeping into the gym and go away! Don't make me call Officer Jenny again!" Erika shouted, the old man peeping in the gym ran off as fast as she could, passing by the group as he ran. Erika smiled at the group when she saw Diego with them.

"Diego! It's nice to see you again, sorry about that little incident just now! That man has been peeping into the gym for who knows how long!" She explained.

"Ugh men!" Renée scoffed. Julia looked irritated as well.

"But aside from that, you've come to battle and a battle you shall have!" Erika announced, she then noticed Ronan with the group. "Ronan, I assume you've come to watch the battles?"

"That's right!" Ronan answered.

"Well then, please come inside!" Erika said with a smile, everyone entered the gym.

* * *

Ronan, Julia, Renée, and Jack stood by the sidelines as Erika and Diego were on the battlefield.

"Well Diego, I promised you that we would battle! So let's make this a good one!" Erika said, Diego nodded in agreement, a confident smirk on his face. "Then let's begin! Exeggcute, come out!" Erika sent out her pokemon, Julia looked confused about Exeggcute's appearance.

"Exeggcute?" She said, she checked her pokedex for more info.

'Exeggcute, the Egg pokemon; Even though they appear to be eggs of some sort, it was discovered that they appear to be a life - form more like plant seeds.'

"Weird..." Jack said.

"Let's go Zubat!" Diego exclaimed, he sent out his Zubat, it sparkled with light blue stars when it was sent out. Erika was in awe at this.

"You've captured a shiny pokemon! That's amazing, shiny pokemon are exceptionally rare!"

"Well Zubat is an awesome partner!" Diego announced, Zubat seemed incredibly happy at his statement.

"You may make the first move Diego!" Erika said.

"Alright, Zubat use Leech Life!" Diego commanded, Zubat charged for Exeggcute, it's fangs bared straight towards it. Both Exeggcute and Erika didn't look worried in any way, they stood their ground!

"Exeggcute... Barrage!" Erika ordered. One of Exeggcute's eggs launched itself towards Zubat, knocking it back! The other eggs did the same, causing some damage, thankfully Zubat shook it off and got ready to fight back. Diego however, did not order a counterattack, he just stood there... watching Exeggcute.

"What's he doing?" Renée asked impatiently.

"He's thinking of a strategy..." Jack said, he and the girls looked surprised. Diego usually went into battles head-on, trying to cause as much damage as fast as possible. It was not often that Diego would think of a strategy.

"Well I'm not surprised." Ronan said, the others turned to him. "Exeggcute can be a tricky one, I haven't battled one, but I've seen trainers use a few. They like to play with status ailments and put up Reflects and Light Screens!

'So I can't attack it head on, I have to find some way to distract it!' Diego thought to himself. Diego was about to make his next move, but they all failed to notice that Erika had fallen asleep! Everyone was baffled at this, except for Exeggcute, who just looked annoyed. It then used it's Uproar attack to wake her up.

"Oh, it appears I have dozed off again!" Erika said. "I really must learn to stay awake during important battles! I believe it was your move Diego."

"Y-yeah..." Diego said, he and the others were really confused. But Diego still made his move. "Zubat, use Supersonic!" Zubat sent out multiple sound waved towards Exeggcute, these sound waves were loud enough to disrupt the gardeners!

"Argh! What is that?!" One screamed.

"I can't hear anything!" Another yelled. Zubat stopped it's attack, Erika was about to call for an counterattack, but the Supersonic caused Exeggcute to become confused, the eggs began to squabble amongst themselves. This gave Diego the opportunity he needed.

"Now, Leech Life!" Zubat flew towards Exeggcute again, this time however, Exeggcute couldn't attack. Zubat bit into the egg in the center, draining it's energy. Due to Exeggcute's psychic powers, all of the eggs took damage!

"Finish it with Wing Attack!" With one final charge with its wings spread out, Zubat knocked out Exeggcute!

"Not bad! Exeggcute can be a very versatile pokemon, but you took it down with relative ease. However, this next pokemon is no pushover!" Erika said, recalling her Exeggcute back into its pokeball. "Now let's see you try to beat..." Erika sent out her next pokemon.

"Weepinbell!"

"Weepinbell... Alright then, time to heat things up!" Diego recalled his Zubat, and sent out his Charmeleon.

"You seem to clearly understand type advantages! However that doesn't mean your victory is assured!" Erika exclaimed. "Weepinbell, use Leaf Tornado!" Weepinbell sent out a whirlwind of razor sharp leaves towards Charmeleon.

"Charmeleon, use Ember!" Diego ordered, Charmeleon shot a fireball towards the tornado, it burned a few of the leaves, but the fire was quickly put out from the wind generated by the tornado. Charmeleon ended up getting caught in the tornado and flung around until the tornado stopped. Charmeleon was left in a bit of a daze.

"Weepinbell, use Stun Spore!"

"Charmeleon, Dragon Rage!"

Weepinbell sent out a wave of yellow spores towards Charmeleon, however the flames of the Dragon Rage burned these spores into ash. The attack connected with Weepinbell causing some serious damage.

"Quickly Weepinbell, use Razor Leaf!" Erika ordered, Weepinbell shot out leaves at a breakneck speed, Diego and Charmeleon stood, unfazed by the attack.

"Charmeleon, give em' one more Ember!" Charmeleon launched a rather large fireball towards the leaves burning them and damaging Weepinbell.

"This isn't good!" Erika said to herself. "Weepinbell, use Leaf Tornado!" Weepinbell sent out another tornado of leaves at Charmeleon, Diego had no idea how to counteract that attack. The tornado drew Charmeleon in, it was then that Diego had an idea!

"Charmeleon, move with the tornado and attack Weepinbell with Fire Fang!" Diego commanded.

Charmeleon took control of the tornado and gained enough speed to jump out of it, it fell straight towards Weepinbell, it's teeth were a bright red and bared right for Weepinbell. The ensuing impact was enough to make Weepinbell faint, securing the win for Diego!

Erika and the girls were stunned at the turn of events, Jack was very impressed at how his best friend took control of the battle, and Ronan clearly enjoyed the show.

"That was amazing!" Julia said in awe.

"How did..." Renée responded, still stunned.

"That was a Grade A battle!" Ronan cheered.

"What can I say, you took us all by surprise!" Jack said, applauding his friend.

"Diego, I'm very impressed with how you took control of the battle! And I am pleased to give you the Rainbow Badge!" Erika said, happily handing Diego his badge. "So... which of you will I battle next?"

The others looked at each other, they still needed to decide who would be next...

* * *

**Well that's one battle down and 3 to go! Also I know Weepinbell cannot normally use Leaf Tornado, this story will change the move sets of pokemon quite a bit, and this won't be the strangest thing in this story. More to come soon!**


	19. Celadon Gym Part 2: Renée vs Erika

**Part 2 of the Gym Battles, also I want to issue a little challenge to you all. Try to guess where I'm getting the pokedex entries from! One more thing, since I can change the move sets of pokemon, should I create new moves for them? Should I change what moves TM's contain? Anyway, enough babbling, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"So who is next?" Erika said with a smile, Julia, Renée, and Jack were still unsure.

"How about Renée?" Ronan stated, everyone seemed ok with her going and soon the battle began!

"Alright Renée, the battle will still be 2-on-2! Are you ready?" Erika announced.

"Ready!" She answered.

"Very well, Tangela, come out!" Erika sent out her Tangela, Ronan immediately remembered his battle with the very same Tangela.

"Hey, Ronan, didn't you say you fought Tangela before?" Diego asked.

"That's right, it's a bit tricky to take down. It tends to constrict it's opponents with Bind and play with their statuses with moves like Poison Powder and Stun Spore." Ronan explained.

"So it uses a strategy that's just like Renée's! Play with a pokemon's status to bring it down." Julia stated. Renée sent out her Growlithe.

"Tangela, use Bind!" Erika ordered, Tangela whipped out some of its vines to trap Growlithe at a quick speed! Growlithe was trapped almost instantly.

"Not so fast! Growlithe use Bite!" Renée commanded, Growlithe bit into one of the vines, causing pain to Tangela, who released Growlithe from its grip.

"Tangela, use Poison Powder!" Tangela blew out a cloud of purple spores towards Growlithe.

"Growlithe, avoid it and use Flame Wheel!" Growlithe jumped around the cloud of spores and charged towards Tangela, flames burned around Growlithe's body. Growlithe bashed Tangela into the ground, causing some serious damage and even Burning it! Erika began to look serious, she looked nervous around the burning fire as her gym almost burned down many years ago. Despite taking damage from the burn, Tangela kept fighting.

"It's time for out secret weapon! Tangela, use Ancient Power!" Erika called out, Tangela's body began to glow pinkish/purple, it created rocks out of thin air and launched them towards Growlithe. The rocks made contact with Growlithe, causing some heavy damage.

"Wait, isn't Ancient Power a Rock - Type move? How can Tangela learn it?" Julia asked.

"I'm not even sure, but it definitely is a surprise!" Jack replied.

"Come on Growlithe, we need to find is this! Use-" Renée was about to have Growlithe use Ember, but Growlithe already shot a fireball at Tangela, though it moved much faster than a normal Ember attack. When this fireball hit Tangela, it exploded into more fireballs! Tangela appeared to be severely weakened, but still strong enough to battle.

"A surprise Flame Burst! These battles are just full of surprises!" Erika said with a confident smile. "Tangela, use Sleep Powder!"

"Growlithe, Flame Burst!" Renée commanded. The Flame Burst made contact with the powder and exploded, but the smaller flames managed to hit Tangela with enough force to take it out!

"It's a good thing she took Tangela out with much difficulty! It can cause a lot of problems if you let it!" Ronan added.

"Very good! Now let's see how you fare against the next pokemon!" Erika announced, sending out her next pokemon. It was light green with a yellow flower on its head. Jack scanned the pokemon with his pokedex.

'Skiploom, the Cottonweed pokemon; It spreads it's petals to absorb sunlight. It also floats in the air to get closer to the sun.'

"So Skiploom's a Grass and Flying type, Growlithe or Flaaffy would be a good choice here." Jack noted. Renée promptly recalled her Growlithe and sent out Flaaffy.

"Skiploom, use Bullet Seed!"

"Flaaffy, Charge Beam!" The two attacks collided with each other, but they did not stop each other. Both pokemon were hit and took reasonable damage from it.

"You're Flaaffy must be well trained, no pokemon has been seen countering Skiploom's Bullet Seed!" Erika noted.

"Of course! Flaafy, use Thunder Wave!" Renée commanded, Flaaffy sent out a thin bolt of electricity at Skiploom, when it hit skiploom, it turned into electric rings that enveloped Skiploom, paralyzing it.

"Oh my! Skiploom, use Leech Seed!" Erika called out.

"Confuse Ray!" Renée called out, Flaaffy's tail began to glow purple, it sent out a small glowing orb of energy towards Skiploom, it hit just as the Leech Seed made contact. Flaaffy's energy was drained and transferred into Skiploom, although the latter was still paralyzed and confused.

'Great, now I have to deal with the Leech Seed! Unless...' Renée thought to herself.

"Flaaffy, use Volt Switch!" Flaaffy's arm began to spark with electricity, it then threw an orb made up of the electricity it collected towards Skiploom, it hit it perfectly! After the hit, Flaaffy retreated back into Renée's pokeball, Growlithe was sent out in its place!

"When did Flaaffy learn that?" Diego asked in confusion.

"I'm very impressed, I never expected such a strategical move!" Erika said in admiration. "However this battle is not over! Skiploom, use Sleep Powder! Quickly!" Skiploom snapped out of confusion and sent out its Sleep Powder towards Growlithe.

"Growlithe, use Flame Burst!" Renée commanded, Growlithe shot out its attack, avoiding Skiploom's in the process. Erika then ordered Skiploom to use Leech Seed, but the paralysis was still in effect, preventing Skiploom from attacking!

"Now Growlithe, finish it with Take Down!" Growlithe charged towards Skiploom, knocking it to the ground and securing the win for Renée!

"Yay! Way to go sis!" Julia cheered.

"That was an excellent battle Renée! You seem to good at making effective strategies!" Erika noted, handing Renée her badge.

"So that's two down..." Diego said

"And two more to go!" Jack finished.

* * *

**Sorry if this battle seemed a bit short, I want to make it long enough for you to be interested in reading, but not too long so that it would be boring. Anyway, we're halfway done, just two more battles! Stick around! ^_^**


	20. Celadon Gym Part 3: Tag Team!

**After some debating between myself and Diego's creator, I've decided to cut Jack and Julia's battle into just one chapter to speed things up a little bit more! And I did want to get the story moving again, so here's part 3 of 3 of the Celadon Gym battles!**

* * *

"So that's two battles over and two to go." Renée noted.

"Yeah, and it's already 4! By the time we finish all 4 battles it'll already be pretty late." Diego added.

"Perhaps there is a way to speed up your battles?" Ronan proposed.

"I have an idea, we'll have a double battle! If Julia and Jack can defeat me, they will both receive a badge!" Erika announced, everyone seemed pleased with the idea, Jack blushed a little bit, he would get to battle with his crush!

* * *

The three of them got into their positions on the arena. Each of them had their pokeballs ready.

"Here's how things will work, you will only use 2 of your pokemon, which would equal 4. Since its a 2 on 1 battle, I will have to use 4 pokemon as well. Take a moment to decide which pokemon you will use!" Erika announced. Julia and Jack turned to each other.

"So who should we use?" Julia asked.

"Well a good number of Grass type pokemon are also part Poison type, so Ralts would be a good choice, Grass types are also weak to Flying, Fire, and Ice. We have two of those types, although your Spheal is also part Water so it could be a problem. Double battles are won with teamwork, so I'll cover Spheal weaknesses!" Jack explained.

"Great planning Jack! You're so smart!" Julia replied, causing Jack to blush again.

"Are you ready?" Erika asked

"Yeah!" The two trainers said in unison. They all sent out their pokemon, Erika sent out her Weepinbell and a Roselia. Jack and Julia both sent out their Ralts.

"Psychic types! You all seem to have a good understanding of type advantages! But in battles having the type advantage doesn't prove anything!" Erika remarked. "Anyway, you two may make the first move!"

"Ok Ralts, use Calm Mind!" Jack called out.

"Use Confusion on Weepinbell!" Julia ordered. Jack's Ralts took a deep breath and began to have a blue aura around it. Julia's Ralts began to glow blue, it reached its arm out in an attempt to use its psychic power to damage Weepinbell.

"Roselia, use Sunny Day and Weepinbell, you use Razor Leaf!" Erika commanded. Roselia shot a red - orange orb into the sky, it made the clouds in the sky clear up and the sun shone brightly on the arena. Before Julia's Ralts could attack, Weepinbell shot out its Razor Leaf attack at a quick speed., it was much faster than it was earlier.

"Wait how is Weepinbell so fast?" Diego asked.

"Yeah, it didn't move like that earlier!" Renée added.

"That must be Weepinbell's ability, Chlorophyll! It doubles a pokemon's speed in the sun!" Jack explained. Julia's Ralts managed to get its attack off on Weepinbell, though it didn't seem to do much damage.

"Ralts, use Calm Mind, one more time!" Jack stated

"Ralts, use Double Team!" Julia ordered "Jack, why aren't you attacking?"

"If I can raise Ralts' stats high enough, it can beat our opponents easily!" Jack answered.

"Oh, I get it!" Julia responded. Jack's Ralts continued used raising it's stats, Julia's began making duplicates of itself.

"Roselia, use Leech Seed, Weepinbell use Leaf Tornado!" Erika called out. Roselia sent out its Leech Seed towards Julia's Ralts while Weepinbell's Leaf Tornado targeted the both of them. Surprisingly though, Jack's pokemon took both attacks for Julia's!

"Why did it do that?" Ronan asked in confusion.

"Well Jack's Ralts and Julia's Ralts are brother and sister! I guess Jack's was trying to protect its sister!" Renée explained.

"That was so sweet!" Julia commented. "Ok Ralts, use Confusion!"

"You do the same Ralts!" Jack commanded. (A/N: Sorry if this looks confusing)

"Weepinbell, use Razor Leaf and Roselia, you use Giga Drain!" Erika announced. Weepinbell shot out more Razor Leaves, causing considerable damage to Julia's Ralts. Both Ralts managed to attack their opponents before Roselia, Jack's attack managed to take out Weepinbell while Roselia had taken heavy damage, Jack's Ralts took the Giga Drain for its sister, Roselia barely drained any health from the attack due to Jack's Ralts having its Special Defense boosted.

"Not bad you two, come on out Carnivine!" Erika sent out her next pokemon, it towered over all of the others.

"Carnivine?" Diego scanned the strange pokemon with his pokedex.

'Carnivine: the Bug Catcher pokemon; It binds itself to trees in marshes. It attracts prey with its sweet smelling prey and gulps them down.'

"That's creepy... I like it!" Diego responded, Ronan and Renée gave him a strange look.

"Carnivine, use Razor Leaf, Roselia, use Poison Sting on Julia's Ralts!"

"Ralts, use Fairy Wind!" Julia ordered.

"Ralts, use Confusion!" Julia's Ralts brought up a harsh gust of wind from nowhere, the wind had a pink texture to it, it damaged Carnivine a bit, but it barely harmed Roselua, due to its Poison typing. Carnivore's Razor Leaf attack caused some staggering damage to both pokemon, Julia's Ralts had trouble standing, Roselia shot out a toxic purple barb towards Julia's pokemon. Jack's Ralts tried to take the hit for its sister, but it was too slow. The Poison Sting hit it's target and knocked out Julia's Ralts. (Hopefully that should make things easier for you e_e)

"Oh man, that sucks!" Julia whined, recalling her Ralts back into its pokeball, Jack's Ralts finished off Roselia with Confusion. It was clear that Ralts was no longer playing around!

"Looks like things are serious now! It's time to bring out my ace! Gloom, come join us!" Erika announced bringing out her Gloom, her strongest pokemon!

"Ok, Spheal you come on out too!" Julia sent out her Spheal, the sunlight was still bright from the effects of Sunny Day, Spheal's water attacks would do much less damage, though it made no sense to use them against Grass type pokemon.

"Spheal, use Aurora Beam on Carnivine!

"Ralts, use Co-" Before Jack could finished, Ralts charged towards Carnivine, it's fist was glowing blue and white, small snow crystals trailed its hand. Ralts punched Carnivine in the jaw with its new move, Ice Punch! The attack knocked Carnivine out!

"That's just cold!" Erika noted, Ronan couldn't help but laugh at the pun. "Gloom, use Solarbeam!" Gloom absorbs energy from the sun, and since Sunny Day was still in effect, it didn't have to spend too much time charging. Gloom fired the Solarbeam, both Ralts and Spheal were in its path, the attack knocked both of them out.

Everyone gasped at this.

"Wait, Spheal was my last pokemon! D - Does that mean I lost?" Julia asked, she looked upset.

"Not necessarily, if Jack can defeat Gloom then both of you get a gym badge!" Erika answered.

"Ok, good luck Jack, you can do it!" Julia cheered, she hugged Jack before heading off to join the others. Jack blushed but regained himself, he sent out his last pokemon.

"Ok Spearow, let's finish this! Use Aerial Ace!" Jack ordered, Spearow flew up high into the air and charged for Gloom at a high speed, but Gloom was still faster due to the Sun still in being in effect.

"Gloom use Acid!" Erika said, Gloom sprayed a stream of green acid towards Spearow, it disoriented it for a moment, but Spearow quickly regained itself and hit Gloom for some heavy damage! The sunlight turned back to normal, the effect of Sunny Day had ended.

"Alright Spearow finish it with Fury Attack!" Jack commanded.

"Gloom use Petal Dance quickly!" Erika ordered, she looked uneasy. Gloom was now slower than Spearow, since the sun was no longer out to aid its Chlorophyll ability. Spearow hit Gloom head-on and sent it several feet in the air, it then charged into Gloom 4 more times, it hit Gloom on the back to send it to the ground with the final blow. This 5 hit combo was enough to take Gloom down!

"EEEEEK! You did it Jack!" Julia squealed, she ran to Jack and embraced him, making him blush again.

"Well a loss is a loss! That was the most fun I've had since I battled Red all those years ago! Take your badges you two, you've earned them!" Erika handed the two trainers their badges, the battles were over!

* * *

"It was an absolute pleasure to battle against you all! I wish you the best of luck on your journey, here why don't you take these with you!" Erika handed the group some TM's. "Those TM's contain the move Giga Drain, it's a powerful Grass move that absorbs half of the damage inflicted!"

"Thanks Erika, this could really help!" Renée said. They all noticed the old man looking into the gym again, once he noticed them looking back at him, he ran off, everyone glared at him as he ran. Erika yawned.

"Well, it's been a very busy day, I'm off to rest, take care!" She said, everyone left the gym.

"So Ronan, are you gonna come with us?" Jack asked

"Thank you for the offer, but I still have some things I want to take care of here first! I'm sure I'll see you all again sometime!" Ronan answered, he left the group.

"Well, I guess we're headed back to Cerulean!" Julia said with a grin on her face.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna get my third badge!" Diego announced. The group went to the Pokemon Center to rest for the night, they would head back to Cerulean City tomorrow.

* * *

**And that does it for the gym battles! Now I'm not going to immediately have the group be at Cerulean and battle Misty right away, it wouldn't be right to have one gym right after the other. But whatever happened to some of the other graduates? Where are they now? Find out in the next chapter!**


End file.
